An elderly woman who was evicted from the Madrid apartment where she lived most of her life and whose case sparked widespread solidarity protests across Spain will be able to return home, her lawyer said Monday. A video from last week showed María del Carmen Abascal, known by her nickname Maricarmen, being carried out of the building on a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance. Maricarmen, 87 years old, is a wheelchair user and resident in the Retiro neighborhood of the Spanish capital. His dramatic eviction struck a chord with Spaniards who took the case seriously to draw attention to one of the country’s most pressing problems: the real estate crisis. Thousands demonstrate against evictions and housing crisis in Spain Image: Richard Zubelzu/NurPhoto/Picture Alliance Protesters set up camps in Puerta del Sol square Image: David Canales/SOPA Images/Sipa USA/Picture Alliance Protesters were angry that Maricarmen was removed from the apartment she had lived in since 1956 Image: Bruno Thevenin/Middle East Images/Picture Alliance Rising prices and housing shortages have driven people out of the market in Europe’s fourth largest economy. The weekend protest put pressure on Spain’s leftist government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. On Saturday, tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of the Spanish capital, many setting up tents at Madrid’s historic Puerta del Sol at the end of the night. More people, including multigenerational families, joined in on Sunday. “If this agreement that we have reached is signed, it will obviously be a better and happier result for everyone,” Abascal’s lawyer, Beatriz Duro, told the press, calling it a “result of social mobilization.” “Hopefully this agreement, this different way of putting an end to this type of situation that unfortunately occurs every day in this country, helps change the paradigm in terms of housing in general,” said Duro. Tuesday’s Spanish housing bill fails to meet protesters’ demands. Sánchez, who last week called the eviction a “social tragedy,” hopes to win support for a long-delayed housing bill at Tuesday’s meeting of Spain’s Council of Ministers. But according to El País, the legislation introduced on Tuesday does not meet the demands of protesters who are calling for tougher measures against abusive landlords and a freeze on rents until the housing crisis is resolved. Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher If you trust our team for trustworthy reporting, please take a moment to select us as your preferred source on Google so you always see our verified news first.
