Violent protests erupted in Spain after an 87-year-old disabled woman was forcibly evicted from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for 71 years.
Maricarmen Abascal was carried out of the building on a stretcher before being taken to hospital in an ambulance, while riot police confronted demonstrators chanting: “Maricarmen, you are not alone.”
The pensioner had spent years fighting a legal battle with a real estate company that acquired her apartment and increased the monthly rent by 275 per cent to €2,650 (£2,279), according to the Madrid Tenants’ Union.
Her supporters said she had consistently paid her rent but was given only 30 minutes to remove her belongings from the property.
Clashes broke out outside the building on Wednesday as riot police moved in to clear protesters who were blocking the entrance.
Video footage shows Maricarmen looking around as medical workers wheeled her towards the waiting ambulance.
The dispute ultimately reached Spain’s Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the company and cleared the way for the eviction, the renters’ union said.
Police charged at and dragged away dozens of activists who had camped outside Maricarmen’s home in an attempt to prevent her removal. Protesters responded by shouting: “Shame!”
Medical workers used a stretcher to take the wheelchair user to an ambulance, while protesters behind a security cordon continued chanting: “Maricarmen, you aren’t alone!”
Maricarmen Abascal was carried out of the building on a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance as demonstrators chanted: “Maricarmen, you are not alone”
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Madrid after an 87-year-old woman was evicted from the apartment she had called home for 70 years
Police remove a member of the Madrid Tenants’ Union who was helping to form a barricade at the building’s entrance
After leaving the apartment, Maricarmen was taken to Gregorio Marañón Hospital. She declined the free emergency accommodation offered by the city and was expected to stay with a relative, at least temporarily.
Amnesty International Spain condemned the eviction as “a violation of human rights” and criticised what it called a system that placed the speculative interests of a vulture fund ahead of Maricarmen’s right to remain in her home.
“This is not an isolated case; it is another example of the suffering endured by thousands of households across Spain,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
Speaking to public broadcaster RTVE in an interview recorded on Tuesday, Maricarmen described the company as “inhuman” and accused it of acting solely to make money.
“You cannot make a person live for seven years with a machete hanging over their neck,” she said, holding national, regional and city authorities responsible for her situation.
Socialist Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez said the minority left-wing government had repeatedly sought to pass legislation banning evictions of this kind. She also accused the conservative-led Madrid region of “rolling out the red carpet for these speculators”.
Housing has remained one of Spain’s biggest concerns for years, with demand outstripping supply and rents and property prices continuing to rise, as they have elsewhere across the European Union.
Residents in the world’s second-most visited country blame short-term holiday rentals, including Airbnb, for pushing up housing costs and reducing supply. The issue has fuelled protests in popular destinations such as Barcelona.
‘I’m leaving Madrid, because Madrid isn’t Madrid. And the people of Madrid are no longer Madrilenos. They are all the tourists that you have in Gran Via,’ Maricarmen told RTVE, referring to the Spanish capital’s main commercial thoroughfare.
Earlier this year, it emerged that more than 100,000 half-finished homes currently lie empty in Spain, after locals spent years complaining that they had nowhere to live.
Data from Spain’s Ministry of Housing indicates that this vast array of unfinished homes is only a portion of those in the country.
The government’s report into the issue only tracked developments that were meant to host at least 1,000 homes and had building levels of less than 70 per cent.
On top of this, there is enough developed land with streetlights and roads – but no homes – in Spain for 390,000 homes.
Many of these developments exist in an eerie state of limbo as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, with many housebuilders defaulting on loans and declaring bankruptcy, unable to pay their loans back.
And since then, the country’s property development market has come to something of a standstill. The Bank of Spain estimates that there is currently a shortage of almost 700,000 homes.
Because of this, demand for homes has surged, and Spanish residents have increasingly felt priced out of their communities. In the last few years, they have taken out much of their anger on tourists and non-residents who buy up homes in holiday hotspots.
Riots and protests have blighted many of Spain’s biggest tourist cities, including Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Mallorca’s Palma.
And in many parts of the country, legislation about banning Britons from buying property is being debated.
