Overview
- The court-ordered eviction was carried out on 23 September when riot police removed Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid flat where she had lived for decades and she was taken from the scene on a stretcher.
- Public outrage grew into mass demonstrations and a multi-day encampment in Puerta del Sol, with tens of thousands joining protests that focused attention on evictions and soaring rents.
- UrbaGestion, the private fund that owns the apartment, presented a preliminary agreement late on Monday that could allow Ms Abascal to return to her home and her lawyer says she is considering the offer but has not signed it.
- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has pledged urgent housing measures to curb abusive rent rises, though his Socialist party lacks a stable majority and passage of any decree faces political hurdles.
- The case highlighted a larger housing squeeze in Spain, including reported proposed rent jumps from about €440 to €1,650 for the flat, criticism from human-rights groups, and Bank of Spain estimates of a shortfall of hundreds of thousands of homes.