Puerta del Sol is accustomed to crowds. It is a place where Madrid’s streets converge, where people pass beneath the city lights and where public gatherings often become part of the capital’s daily rhythm. This weekend, however, the square took on another role: a temporary camp formed around a growing protest over housing.
The demonstrations followed the eviction of 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for decades. On Saturday, tens of thousands of people marched through the capital demanding stronger protections for tenants and measures addressing rising housing costs.
After the march, some protesters remained in Puerta del Sol instead of returning home. Tents were put up through the night, and the encampment continued to grow into Sunday, with reports describing around 150 tents across the square.
The eviction that sparked the demonstrations took place on Wednesday. Abascal was removed from the apartment in Madrid's Retiro neighborhood after a long-running legal dispute over her tenancy. Images of the 87-year-old being taken from the building on a medical stretcher became a widely circulated symbol of the broader housing debate.
Abascal had lived in the apartment since 1956. The tenancy originated with her parents and continued through successive inheritances. The property was later sold, and a legal dispute developed over the validity and continuation of the tenancy. Spain's Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of the property owners in March, according to Euronews.
The dispute also involved a significant difference between the previous rent and the amount demanded by the property company. The Madrid Tenants' Union said the rent had risen sharply after the property changed hands, while reports also noted that Abascal's pension was below the rent being sought.
The case had already attracted international attention before the eviction. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had called on Spain to halt the eviction and ensure access to adequate housing, but the request did not prevent the court-ordered eviction from taking place.
Madrid authorities have offered a different part of the story. The city said housing and social services had previously offered Abascal accommodation options, including emergency housing, and that she declined those offers. Following the eviction, she chose to stay temporarily with relatives.
The demonstrations, meanwhile, have widened the discussion beyond one apartment. Protesters have called for stronger tenant protections, measures against fraudulent practices and restrictions on evictions when no alternative housing is available. Government officials have also faced pressure to respond to rising housing costs and limited housing supply.
The scale of Saturday's protest was itself disputed. Government authorities estimated the turnout at around 25,000, while organizers gave a substantially higher figure of 300,000. Such differences are common in large demonstrations and illustrate why crowd estimates should be treated as estimates rather than exact counts.
The encampment in Puerta del Sol now gives the housing debate a physical presence in the heart of Madrid. Tents occupy a public square, families and protesters gather through the night, and one elderly woman's eviction has become part of a much larger conversation about rent, security of tenure and access to housing.
For Madrid, the story is no longer confined to the doorway of one apartment. It has moved into the plaza, beneath the open sky, where the question of housing is being expressed not only through legal documents and government proposals, but through people choosing to remain together in a public space.
Hashtags: #Madrid #Spain #HousingCrisis #PuertaDelSol #MaricarmenAbascal #HousingRights #WorldNews #SpainHousing
Slug: madrid-puerta-del-sol-encampment-87-year-old-eviction-housing-crisis
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Sources: Associated Press Reuters Euronews DW El País
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