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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ashifa Kassam in Madrid

Eviction of 87-year-old puts Spain’s deepening housing crisis in the spotlight

Housing activists shout with raised fists, one crying, at a Madrid protest
The eviction of Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid home where she had lived for more than seven decades led to protests. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters

Images of an octogenarian being evicted from the home she had lived in for seven decades on a stretcher, flanked by protesters and police officers, have sparked indignation across Spain.

At the weekend, days after the first protests began, Madrid’s central Sol plaza was still full of anger at the treatment of Maricarmen Abascal. Tens of thousands of people marched through Spain’s capital on Saturday, rattling keys as they called for measures to curb rising housing costs and make evictions more difficult. Some brought tents and sleeping bags, announcing plans to set up a protest camp. Come Sunday, many were still there: their demand, a nationwide reckoning over access to housing.

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