María del Carmen Abascal dies at 87 after eviction that galvanized Spain’s housing protests

María del Carmen Abascal, 87, died on 7 October at Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón Hospital, two weeks after her eviction from the home where she had lived for about seven decades. Known widely as Maricarmen, she had become a focus of protests over Spain’s housing crisis. Her death drew fresh tributes and calls from campaigners to continue the movement.

Abascal was evicted on 23 September from her apartment in Madrid’s Retiro district. RTVE reported that she left the building on a stretcher and was taken to hospital immediately afterward. The broadcaster said her health had worsened in recent months and had been particularly fragile during the two weeks after the eviction.

How Abascal’s eviction became a protest cause

Abascal had moved into the apartment as a teenager. According to RTVE, Urbagestión acquired the property in 2018 and sought a substantially higher rent than she had been paying under an older rental arrangement. The dispute made her case a visible example for campaigners pressing for more affordable housing and stronger protections for tenants.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the building on the day of the eviction, RTVE reported. The Guardian said about 10,000 people took to Madrid’s streets later that day. Demonstrations spread elsewhere in Spain, while campaigners established an encampment at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. The Guardian reported that rents had risen 80% and house prices 63% over a decade, figures illustrating the wider pressures behind the protests.

Campaigners mourn her and continue organizing

The Madrid tenants’ union said the agreement allowing Abascal to return had come too late. It described her ordeal as preventable and said the events following her eviction had placed housing at the center of national debate. Those are the union’s assessments of the case and its political impact.

At the Puerta del Sol encampment, protesters observed a minute of silence and set off on a march toward Spain’s parliament after news of her death, according to RTVE. The encampment said it would continue. RTVE also reported that unions had called a general strike for 11 November to demand reforms including housing measures; the strike was a plan announced on 7 October, not a completed event.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez offered condolences to Abascal’s family and friends, The Guardian reported. Her death came amid a national debate that had already reached parliament: Sánchez called a snap general election after lawmakers rejected two emergency housing decrees, according to the newspaper. The Guardian reported that the election was called for 29 November.

What is known about her health and the housing measures

Duro told Cadena SER that Abascal had been independent and mobile around the first attempted eviction in October 2025 but had visibly deteriorated by later attempts. The lawyer said she believed that, had the eviction been suspended, they would not be in the situation they faced. That is Duro’s account and judgment; the available reports do not establish a medical cause of death or a public medical finding that the eviction caused it.

The policy response is also unfinished. RTVE reported that the cabinet approved new housing decrees on 6 October after the earlier measures failed, with a vote expected in parliament’s permanent council. The government believed it had enough support for at least one measure, RTVE said, but the outcome of that vote was not established in the reports available on 7 October.

The Guardian described the proposed measures as addressing access to rentals and home purchases, eviction protections for vulnerable residents, room rentals, taxation of seasonal rentals, speculative purchases and tax breaks. They remain proposals in this account. For the campaigners gathering in Madrid, Abascal’s death has renewed the urgency of demands that began with her eviction; whether the new decrees pass remains an open question.