Tens of thousands march in Madrid to mourn pensioner whose eviction sparked housing protests

Cover image: Protesters march from Madrid's Puerta del Sol square to the building where the late Maricarmen Abascal lived on October 8, 2026. © Violeta Santos Moura, Reuters

Tens of thousands of protesters joined a march in Madrid Thursday to mark the death of 87-year-old retiree Maricarmen Abascal, whose eviction from her apartment in the Spanish capital in September sparked a wave of housing protests that prompted the government to call early elections.

Tens of thousands of mourners marched through Madrid on Thursday in tribute to a Spanish pensioner whose eviction sparked national housing protests that culminated in the calling of early elections.