Evicted Spanish octogenarian Maricarmen Abascal, heart of Spain's housing protests, has died

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A man at the protest camp at Puerta del Sol square holds a flyer with a picture of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked housing protests in Spain, following her death, in Madrid, Spain, on October 7, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose dramatic eviction ​last month sparked mass housing protests in Spain that ultimately led to ‌an early election, has died, Madrid’s tenants’ union said ​on Wednesday (October 7, 2026), provoking an outpouring of grief and ⁠anger on the streets of the capital.

Ms. Abascal had been in hospital since her eviction on September 23 from her home of more than 70 ‌years, when police and social workers removed her by stretcher.

Maricarmen Abascal, 87, is transported on a stretcher to an ambulance, after she was evicted from the Madrid home where she had lived for more than seven decades after the apartment was acquired by an investment fund that sought a steep increase in her rent, despite efforts by housing activists to broker an alternative arrangement in Madrid, Spain, on September 23, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Since then, protests have included activists camping out ‌on one of Madrid’s main squares and calls for ‌action ⁠over a mounting housing crisis including a shortage of ⁠homes and surging rents.

Following the news of Ms. Abascal’s death, thousands marched from the square, Puerta del Sol, towards parliament, chanting: “This is not a death. It’s ​a murder!” A cause of ‌death was not announced.

Trade unions on Wednesday (October 7, 2026) announced there will be a nationwide general strike over housing issues on November 11.

People gather at the protest camp at Puerta del Sol square following the death of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked housing protests in Spain, in Madrid, Spain, on October 7, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters

The protests, along with parliament’s rejection last week of decrees ‌aimed at curbing evictions and limiting rent pressures, prompted ​Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call an early election for November 29.

Mr. Sanchez is seeking to shift the ⁠political narrative from his government’s handling of a migrant crisis in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta and a series of ‌corruption cases involving his Socialist Party and his family to the housing crisis, an area in which he can harness growing resentment about rising rents.

“Now, following her passing, we are left with the example of the fight she waged and the legacy Maricarmen has left behind. And, above all, we will honor ‌what she always asked of us: ‘Fight, keep fighting for what is yours,’” ​the tenants’ union said in a statement.

Mr. Sanchez posted on X, lamenting Ms. Abascal’s death. “A hug as well to all ⁠of us who feel this loss as our own today,” ⁠he wrote.