Madrid mourns evicted retiree, ‘icon’ of Spain housing protests
Protesters march from Puerta del Sol square, where they have been camped out for days, to the building where the late Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked housing protests in Spain, used to live, in Madrid on Thursday. | REUTERS
By Maria Lorente
AFP-JIJI
Oct 9, 2026
MADRID – 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.
The death of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal on Wednesday produced tears and anger in the Spanish capital’s emblematic Puerta del Sol square, the epicenter of the movement where hundreds are camping in protest.
From Sol, where an improvised shrine of candles, flowers and placards lay on Thursday morning, demonstrators headed to Abascal’s former home in the upmarket Retiro district around three kilometers away.
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