About 10,000 people protested in Madrid on October 8 after María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old known as Maricarmen whose eviction became a focus of Spain’s housing protests, died in hospital. The Guardian reported the crowd estimate and described signs reading “Shame” and “We’re all Maricarmen.”
Abascal died on October 7, according to The Associated Press and The Guardian. Her lawyer did not disclose a cause of death, AP reported. Protesters have linked her death to her eviction, but the available reporting does not establish that the eviction caused it.
An eviction that drew national attention
Abascal was evicted from her Madrid home on September 23 after living there for decades. The Guardian reported that an investment firm that bought the apartment sought to raise her rent by 230 percent. AP reported that the company later agreed she could return following public pressure.
The eviction helped prompt demonstrations around Spain and a protest camp in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, according to AP and The Guardian. Her case became a prominent focus of a wider housing campaign, with demonstrators gathering again in the capital after her death.
The Guardian’s video report said the Madrid march was held in her memory. Its estimate of about 10,000 participants is specific to that report and is not independently confirmed in the other material reviewed.
Housing debate and political developments
The Guardian reported that Spain’s prime minister announced a snap election after housing measures were voted down, with the election scheduled for November 29. That was the timetable reported at the time, and the supplied material does not establish any later outcome.
Abascal’s death renewed attention to housing pressures and the protests connected to her eviction. The reporting documents the sequence of her eviction, the public demonstrations and her death, but does not establish a medical cause or prove a direct link between those events.