Police evict 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid home of seven decades

Maricarmen Abascal continued as the tenant after her parents died.

Urbagestión cited a legal glitch that it said allowed a rent increase.

Supporters camped outside the building on Tuesday night.

Police cordoned off the street and removed people, including journalists, from the entrance.

The crowd chanted "Maricarmen stays".

Police struck some protesters with batons.

Some activists blocked the stairs inside the building.

Carlos Bardem and singer Ana Belén joined the camp, and Ana Belén read Rafael Alberti's poem Desahucio.

The BBC said millions of Spaniards are struggling to find affordable homes.

Pedro Sánchez's Socialist-led government has frequently targeted companies whose investment pushes up housing costs.

The government criticised the eviction order.

Social-services staff accompanied Maricarmen Abascal out.

An investment fund that acquired the Retiro flat sought a steep rent increase.

Urbagestion did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Reuters witnesses saw officers drag, push and lift demonstrators.

The opposition accuses Isabel Díaz Ayuso of seeking the penthouse as a personal residence while bypassing spending rules.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso denies that accusation.

Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her home on Alcalde Sainz de Baranda Street, where she had lived for at least 70 years.

Deutsche Welle said rental prices in Spain's major cities have surged.

The company has made no public statement.

Maricarmen Abascal is 87 years old.

Hundreds of people waited outside.

Maricarmen Abascal spent the first night at Gregorio Marañón Hospital.

Neighbors, activists and cultural figures had tried for months to stop the eviction.

Protesters gathered at a controversial luxury penthouse bought by the Madrid regional government.

The Madrid region averages three evictions a day.

El País said the penthouse was purchased for unclear purposes.

Police cut off General Martínez Campos Street.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso leads the Madrid regional government.

Officers in riot gear watched the protest.

Protesters cried "Shame! Shame!"

The platform Not One More Eviction called protests in several cities.

The lease passed to her mother and then to Maricarmen Abascal.

Urbagestión sought to end the contract.

Maricarmen Abascal paid rent every month for years.

Madrid's tenants' union and the UN opposed the eviction.

Thousands have continued to demonstrate in Madrid and other Spanish cities.

Police clashed with some protesters at a tenants' union demonstration.

Protesters blocked the street outside a luxury penthouse the regional government bought through Planifica Madrid.

Protesters chanted for Isabel Díaz Ayuso to resign.

The flat is at 46 Alcalde Sainz de Baranda Street.

Police cleared hundreds of people who tried to stop the eviction.

Maricarmen Abascal is no longer a resident of Retiro.

Protesters chanted "We are all Maricarmen."

Around 10:30 a.m., after an hour of talks, the eviction was confirmed.

Police set up a cordon that blocked the press and supporters.

Activists tried to block the eviction in the street, on the stairwell and inside the flat.

The regulated tenancy was signed in 1956 with her father as the tenant.

After her mother died in 2005, the tenancy passed to Maricarmen Abascal.

The company argued the second succession was invalid and the contract had lapsed.

Euronews said the dispute goes back almost 70 years.

Maricarmen Abascal has a disability and could not afford that rent.

Urbagestión is claiming 10,000 euros from the Madrid Tenants' Union.

The first eviction attempt, in October 2025, was halted the day before.

Another attempt on 2 June was postponed at the last minute.

Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión is based in Madrid and Valladolid.

Maricarmen Abascal had lived in the home since she was 17.

Her parents died in that home.

Samur Social again offered a place in a residential facility.

Euronews said she became one of the most recognisable faces of Madrid's housing crisis.

Maricarmen Abascal declined and chose to move in with relatives.

The mayor avoided further details out of respect for her privacy.

Marchers asked for tenant protections, anti-fraud rules, and a ban on evictions without alternative housing.

Protesters sat down in Puerta del Sol and planned to stay.

Some pitched tents to stay the night or until police removed them.

AP said rising costs are pricing Spaniards out despite strong growth in Europe's fourth-largest economy.

Incomes have not kept pace with housing costs.

Public rental housing is less than 2 percent of Spain's supply.

The EU average for public rental housing is 8 percent.

Spain previously sold publicly built homes into private ownership.

The video was recorded from her hospital bed after the eviction.

Spain's main tenants' union posted the video.

Marchers rattled keys, blew whistles and carried banners against rising housing costs.

The march ended outside parliament.

Spain has little public housing.

CNA said Spain has about 50 million people.