Police clear Madrid’s Puerta del Sol housing protest camp after more than a month

The operation ended an encampment established on 26 September following the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman who had lived in her Madrid home for more than 70 years. Her case became a rallying point for protests over soaring housing costs and tenant protections. ALSO READ: Vigils and protests in Madrid after death of housing campaign symbol Maricarmen.

Around 400 officers took part in the clearance — 220 from the National Police and 180 from Madrid’s Municipal Police — alongside firefighters and social services personnel. Much of the square remained cordoned off early on Tuesday as cleaning teams began clearing the site.

The central government’s delegation in Madrid said the operation had been carried out peacefully, arguing that the camp’s circumstances and purpose had changed after some participating organisations withdrew. Protest organisers accused police of violence and said several people had been injured. ALSO READ: Madrid closes Sol Metro as unions challenge Ayuso’s account and commuter trains keep running.

Conflicting accounts of the overnight operation

Speaking to RTVE’s La Hora de La 1, camp spokesperson Juan Luis Sánchez said officers began the clearance at 2.55am without warning, seeking to ‘catch everyone asleep’. He described the process as ‘very chaotic’.

Sánchez said that although the operation initially appeared likely to be peaceful, officers responded violently when protesters asked to retrieve their belongings. He alleged that police sprayed him with pepper spray, causing ‘quite considerable skin abrasions’, and forcibly took his mobile phone.

In a separate statement on Telegram, organisers described the clearance as ‘a violent police operation’, alleging that several people were injured by blows or tear gas.

Videos posted by the camp’s official Movimiento 26S account showed officers beginning to dismantle tents and protesters trying to stay together to prevent police from removing them. Around 4am, participants were publicising the clearance on social media, with some complaining that they had been unable to collect their possessions.

Madrid city council sources gave a different account, saying: ‘The eviction of the Puerta del Sol camp took place without incident or episodes of violence.’

Two people were arrested for alleged disobedience and resisting officers. Municipal cleaning services were tasked with taking the dismantled tents to council storage facilities, where their owners would be able to reclaim them.

A housing protest rooted in an elderly woman’s eviction

Maricarmen’s eviction followed a steep rent increase by the property company that owned her apartment. In fragile health, she was admitted to hospital and died two weeks later at Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón Hospital.

Her case fuelled wider anger over housing affordability and helped trigger demonstrations across Spain, bringing tens of thousands of people onto the streets. ALSO READ: Spain’s housing crisis prompts general strike on 11 November, ahead of election.

In Puerta del Sol, the protest developed into an extensive settlement of tents and tarpaulins, with a communal canteen, a clinic and a meeting area. ALSO READ: Protesters vow to stay in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol as housing camp puts pressure on government. 

However, divisions had emerged over whether to remain in the square. By Monday, fewer tents were standing after most of the camp’s organising committees announced that they would gradually dissolve and shift their efforts into neighbourhoods to prepare for the general strike. Some participants marked their departure with a celebratory percussion procession.

Why the government ordered the clearance

The government delegation said it had initially regarded the encampment as protected by the fundamental right of assembly: an organised gathering with shared demands intended to convey a message to public authorities and the wider public.

On that basis, it instructed Madrid’s police leadership to safeguard the peaceful exercise of that right, despite repeated calls from the regional government and city council to clear the square. ALSO READ: Sánchez booed at Spain’s National Day parade as tensions spread to Madrid’s Puerta del Sol.

According to its statement, that position remained in place while the protest retained a temporary character and a common campaigning purpose.

The delegation began formally challenging the camp’s continued presence on 26 October, while Francisco Martín was still government delegate in Madrid. A written communication told organisers that the right to assemble and demonstrate was not ‘unlimited’ and that a ‘reasonable’ period had passed in which to communicate their demands to society.

It also pointed to changes in the camp’s composition following the departure of some participating organisations.

After receiving no response, the delegation sent a second communication on 29 October, by which time Pilar Trinidad had taken over as delegate, demanding that the camp be dismantled as soon as possible.

On 30 October, the people acting as the camp’s interlocutors announced the dissolution of its organising committees. The delegation interpreted that announcement as marking the end of the original protest, although those who remained disputed that the occupation itself was over.

The delegation also argued that many of those continuing to sleep at the site were homeless people or members of vulnerable groups and that the encampment had consequently lost its initial purpose.

Separately, Madrid’s police leadership reported suspected criminal acts and incidents within or immediately around the camp, some affecting people staying there, passers-by and officers. The delegation’s statement did not detail those allegations.

It said the continued presence of the installations despite its communications, reported public-order disturbances and a specific danger to people and property had made clearance necessary as a last resort.

The operation was ordered by Trinidad and coordinated directly with Madrid City Council. The delegation said officers had been instructed to act proportionately, with particular attention to vulnerable people.

ALSO READ: Sánchez revives housing measures with €10bn loan plan as Spain heads towards election.