The eviction of Maricarmen generates a wave of solidarity in the streets of Madrid: thousands and thousands of people demand urgent measures to protect the right to housing

Some 25,000 people, according to the count provided by the Government Delegation at 8:45 PM, participated this Saturday in the demonstration that started at 6:30 PM in the Puerta del Sol and ended in front of the Congress of Deputies. The call, promoted by the Tenants' Union, was organized to demand accountability for the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal and to demand urgent measures to ensure the right to housing.

The organizing entity, however, raised the participation to 300,000 attendees, a figure much higher than that offered by the governmental authority. The mobilization took place in parallel with a day of protests in 40 cities under the slogan 'Not one more Maricarmen', after the eviction of the octogenarian disabled woman from Madrid last Wednesday.

Slogans, banners, and intergenerational presence

Along the route through the center of Madrid, participants showed a clearly intergenerational presence, with families, young people, and groups of older people marching in a coordinated manner. During the journey, slogans were heard and banners were displayed with messages such as 'Where is the progressive Government?', 'Ayuso guilty, Government responsible' and 'We want to see Maricarmen return'.

Slogans also appeared directed at the financial system and public institutions, including 'A rent strike is needed now, a general strike is needed now', 'Madrid will be the tomb of rentism', 'Vulture funds expropriation' or 'Ayuso's penthouse for Maricarmen'. Other posters showed more explicit messages against the regional president and the mayor of Madrid, such as 'Ayuso, Almeida go to hell'.

The political demand of the Tenants' Union

The spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants' Union, Alicia del Río, told the media that Maricarmen's case represents a "point of no return" in the fight for housing in Spain and demanded that the Government immediately approve, this Tuesday, the so-called 'Maricarmen royal decree'. As she warned, if that norm does not go forward, the Executive "makes no sense" and should consider its continuity.

The protest was framed within a broader call, extended to 40 cities across the country, with which the movement wanted to place Maricarmen Abascal's eviction at the center of public debate and pressure for urgent housing measures to be adopted.