Wohnungsnot: Riesen-Protest gegen Zwangsräumung einer Rentnerin in Madrid

In Madrid, tens of thousands of people gathered for a massive protest advocating for the right to housing and against forced evictions. The main focus was the eviction of an 87-year-old woman, Maricarmen, who had lived in her apartment for 70 years. The event was orchestrated by the tenant association "Sindicato de Inquilinas" and claimed to have drawn 300,000 attendees, though the interior ministry estimated around 25,000 participants.

The case of Maricarmen garnered significant attention across Spain, as she had moved into the apartment in the Retiro neighborhood in 1956 and took over the lease after it was sold to a real estate company. She faced multiple failed eviction attempts before being forced to leave and taken to the hospital. Despite her limited mobility and disability status, Maricarmen expressed her determination to continue fighting for housing rights.

Demonstrators blamed both the left-wing central government led by Pedro Sánchez and conservative regional governments like Madrid's Isabel Díaz Ayuso for the housing crisis, calling for measures such as automatic lease renewals, stronger protection from evictions, rent freezes, and reforms to the rental law that would better regulate lease terms and room rentals.

The leftist Podemos party politician and European lawmaker Irene Montero called for the expropriation of 650,000 apartments owned by so-called "tycoon funds" to convert them into social housing. Across Madrid, people of all ages participated in the march from Puerta del Sol to the Congress building, joining similar gatherings in eleven other cities nationwide.

In the wake of the protests, the government is working on adopting a new housing policy decree at the Cabinet on Tuesday, which would take immediate effect but would require parliamentary approval within 30 days.