The PSOE of Madrid will maintain the minute of silence for the death of Maricarmen despite the refusal of the PP of the Community of Madrid, led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, to hold it in the Plenary Session of the Assembly in memory of the 87-year-old woman, who died this Wednesday after being evicted from the home where she had lived for more than seven decades.
Sources from the PSOE of Madrid consulted by 'ElConstitucional.es' report that the socialists will finally hold the minute of silence at 9:50 AM in the hall of the Madrid Assembly, before the start of this Thursday's Plenary Session. The decision comes after the request from PSOE and Más Madrid for the regional Chamber to pay tribute to Maricarmen inside the hemicycle did not receive the support of the PP. The popular group had responded to the proposal with a brief “We don't see it,” according to parliamentary sources told 'Cadena SER'.
From the Madrid PSOE, they have reacted harshly to this refusal and have assured this newspaper that “we are not surprised by the lack of humanity and empathy of Ayuso's PP.” The same sources added: “Always the same contempt for the victims.”
The sources from the PSOE of Madrid consulted by this newspaper have also recalled the controversy raised by Isabel Díaz Ayuso's statements about the management of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Let's not forget the 'they were going to die anyway',” they pointed out from the party, referring to an expression that the opposition attributed to the regional president after, in February 2024, Ayuso defended in the Assembly that many seriously ill elderly people with COVID also died when being transferred to hospitals.
The PSOE maintains the tribute despite the PP's rejection
The left had proposed that the death of Maricarmen, which has become a symbol of the mobilizations for the right to housing, be officially recognized at the beginning of the Plenary Session of the Madrid Assembly. Thus, the PSOE and Más Madrid had asked deputies to observe a minute of silence inside the hemicycle. The PP, however, has not supported the initiative.
Given this position, the socialists have chosen to maintain the tribute outside the hemicycle. Thus, the PSOE of Madrid has announced that its representatives will go to the Assembly hall at 9:50 AM to observe the minute of silence.
The 87-year-old woman became one of the faces of housing protests in recent weeks after her eviction on September 23 from the home where she had resided for more than 70 years.
Maricarmen receives a tribute from a shocked Puerta del Sol
Maricarmen's death has turned Puerta del Sol into a place of mourning, but also of vindication. The 87-year-old woman, whose eviction from the home where she had resided for seven decades triggered a wave of mobilizations for the right to housing, passed away this Wednesday and her death caused a spontaneous vigil among the participants of the Madrid encampment, which this Thursday reaches its twelfth night.
The news spread during the early hours among the people who remain installed in the central square. Groups gathered around the tents while the visibly affected protesters tried to assimilate the death of who had become one of the main symbols of the protest.
As the hours passed, sadness gave way to various tributes. Improvised altars were erected both next to the Real Casa de Correos, headquarters of the Government of the Community of Madrid, and in the vicinity of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree statue or in the Congress of Deputies. Candles, flowers, posters and farewell messages gradually occupied different points of the square.
