Thousands of people have taken to the streets across Andalucia following the eviction of an 87-year-old disabled woman from the Madrid home where she had lived for seven decades.
Demonstrations were held in Malaga, Sevilla and Cadiz on Monday to protest against evictions, soaring rents and alleged abuses in the rental market.
The rallies were organised by the Confederation of Tenants’ Unions and came three days after Maricarmen was removed from her home in Madrid’s Retiro district.
Footage of the elderly woman’s eviction on Friday, September 25, triggered widespread outrage and renewed demands for greater protection for vulnerable tenants.
The Spanish Government is now preparing emergency legislation that activists have dubbed the ‘Maricarmen decree’.
A draft of the royal decree-law is expected to be presented to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.
According to Europa Press, the proposed measures include extending the ban on evicting vulnerable people until 2028 and introducing tighter regulation of temporary rental contracts.
The package is also expected to contain tax incentives affecting landlords and tenants.
‘Not one more Maricarmen’
In Malaga, demonstrators gathered outside the City Council for a protest organised by Un Techo por Derecho and the city’s tenants’ union.
‘We are taking a stand against evictions and rental scams,’ organisers declared.
Campaigners said Maricarmen’s case had exposed the ‘cruellest face’ of Spain’s housing crisis, with protesters chanting: ‘Not one more Maricarmen.’
They highlighted the experiences of elderly residents living in fear of losing their homes, families struggling to reach the end of the month and children growing up without housing security.
‘These are not statistics or case files,’ the group said. ‘They are people, our neighbours. They are lives.’
Late at night they began erecting tents with plans to camp, shouting the slogan in Spanish: ‘If we don’t have a home, we sleep in the square!’ (Si no tenemos casa, dormimos en la plaza).
In Sevilla, crowds gathered beneath the Metropol Parasol, commonly known as Las Setas.
Protesters carried placards bearing slogans including ‘Homes for those who live in them’, ‘Speculators and landlords out’ and ‘Housing is costing us our lives’.
Others chanted against the national government and housing minister, accusing them of failing to tackle the crisis.
In one clip, thouands can be seen jingling the keys above their heads shouting: ‘The solution, expropriation!’.
Ivan Diaz, a spokesman for Sevilla’s tenants’ union, said evictions represented only ‘the tip of the iceberg’.
He argued that tenants face relentless price increases and are forced back into an increasingly expensive market whenever rental agreements expire.
Diaz said campaigners hoped the proposed decree would provide meaningful protection for people facing housing emergencies and prevent further cases like Maricarmen’s.
In Cadiz, residents gathered in Plaza de El Palillero, the square that hosted the city’s 15M protest camp during Spain’s anti-austerity movement.
The demonstration was supported by Jorge David Rodriguez Perez, the provincial coordinator of Izquierda Unida.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
