Thousands march in Madrid to protest eviction of 87-year-old woman

Thousands of people marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest the eviction earlier this week of an 87-year-old woman from her lifelong home, calling for greater protection for tenants. Images of Maricarmen Abascal being carried from her Madrid flat on a stretcher on Wednesday after police broke down her door have thrust Spain's housing crisis back into the spotlight ahead of a general election due in 2027. Protesters chanted slogans and held banners calling for measures to curb rising housing costs and make evictions more difficult as they marched through central Madrid. "You could be the next Maricarmen," read one banner. Watch moreMaricarmen Vs The ‘Vultures’: A “social tragedy” mobilising Spaniards Demonstrator Enrique Ortega de Miguel, a 38-year-old graphic designer who lives with his mother, said the housing market in Spain was "impossible". "It is a struggle to find a place you can afford, then you live in fear of being forced out," he said. Government authorities put the turnout at around 25,000, while organisers of the protest said 300,000 people participated. 'I want it to encourage people to fight' Abascal, who has become a symbol of Spain's housing crisis, urged Span...