Maricarmen, 87, whose eviction sparked Spain's housing protests, dies in hospital
María del Carmen Abascal, 87, died in hospital on Wednesday, her lawyer Beatriz Duro and the Madrid Tenants' Union confirmed. Her eviction from her Madrid flat in September, after the owning firm sought a far higher rent, sparked nationwide protests and a parliamentary defeat for the government's housing measures, which led Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call an election for 29 November. The tenants' union said a deal allowing her return came too late.
Bottom line — Unions have called a general strike for 11 November, and Sánchez now hopes housing will carry his Socialists to the 29 November vote.
Go deeper 8
-
Euronews reported that she had withstood four eviction attempts in the past decade, and that in a final message from her hospital bed she urged protesters: "Fight!"
-
Daily Mail reported the proposed rent rose from about €440 a month to €1,650, against a monthly pension of €1,350, citing Spanish reports (£379 and £1,420 in its own conversion).
-
Le Monde, citing AFP, said the eviction followed a 275 per cent rent increase, a figure Daily Mail gave in its own reporting.
-
Reuters, citing a Supreme Court ruling on a protected rent succession contract, corrected an earlier version of its own story that had said the owners drastically raised the rent to trigger the eviction.
-
Idealista data cited by AP shows average rents in Spain have almost doubled in ten years, from €8.20 to €15.10 per square metre between 2016 and this year, per Times of India.
-
The government said 26% of Spanish renters spend an average of 40% of income on rent and utilities, against an EU average of 18%, according to AP and Euronews.
-
The Bank of Spain estimates the country is short of around 700,000 homes, Daily Mail reported.
-
Conservative opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said her death should not be politicised, while Sánchez's post on X offered condolences.