Tens of thousands took to the streets of Madrid on Saturday to demand urgent measures to tackle Spain’s housing crisis, greater protection for tenants, tougher anti-fraud rules and an end to evictions where no alternative accommodation is provided. The protest came days after 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her flat in the capital’s Retiro district, where she had lived for around 70 years.
Conflicting estimates of march turnout
Authorities estimated that around 25,000 people took part in the march, while organisers said the figure reached 300,000. Protesters jingled keys, blew whistles and chanted for lower housing costs and tighter restrictions on evictions. Some held placards, including one that read: “You could be the next Maricarmen”.
Dora García, a 55-year-old nurse who took part in the demonstration, said the housing crisis “is now affecting the whole of society and all ages and social classes”, adding: “Housing is a right and we do not have it.” Abascal’s case, after extensive media coverage, has become a symbol of the crisis facing tenants in Spain. Police evicted Abascal from her home on Wednesday after breaking down the flat’s door.
Maricarmen Abascal’s eviction becomes a symbol
The elderly woman was carried out on a stretcher amid a gathering of protesters and supporters before being taken to hospital for treatment for exhaustion. The courts had halted three previous attempts to evict her before the decision was enforced earlier this week. Abascal’s father first rented the property in 1956, according to Spanish media reports and the Madrid Tenants’ Union.
Abascal continued living in the flat after her parents died, during a period when rents were subject to a system that capped prices. Ownership of the building changed in 2018, and Abascal was offered the chance to buy the flat, but she could not afford it. The property was later bought by an investment fund managed by OrbaGestión, which increased the monthly rent from €500 to €2,650, then reduced it to €1,650.
The Tenants’ Union said the amount remained beyond Abascal’s ability to pay from her pension. Shortly before the demonstration began, Abascal urged Spaniards to join the protests in a video message recorded from hospital. She said she wanted what happened to her to become “a lesson that prevents the same thing happening to other people”.
Protesters’ sit-in presses for urgent measures
After the march ended, some protesters put up around 12 tents in Madrid’s central Plaza del Sol, outside the regional government headquarters, and announced the start of a sit-in to press for urgent action on housing. The Tenants’ Union, which organised the protest, wrote on X: “We can no longer put up with this situation; either the rental system falls or the government falls.”
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is facing growing pressure to act on the housing crisis, which he has previously pledged to make a priority for his government. The pressure has intensified following the anger sparked by Abascal’s case and ahead of the general election scheduled for 2027.
The government is expected to consider a package of measures, dubbed the “Maricarmen Law”, at the next cabinet meeting. It would include automatic renewals of rental contracts and additional restrictions on evictions. But the package’s passage through parliament is not guaranteed, as Sánchez’s government does not have a majority, and a similar bill was rejected earlier this year.
The protests come amid a broader crisis in Spain’s housing sector, with rents rising in major cities because of increased demand, limited public housing, the impact of tourism and population growth linked to migration. The Bank of Spain estimated that the country faced a shortfall of around 550,000 homes last year, much of it concentrated in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.
Another estimate puts the shortfall at around 700,000 housing units, based on the gap between demand for homes and the pace of new construction in Spain, whose population is close to 50 million.
