Maricarmen Abascal, 87, evicted woman at centre of Spain’s housing protests, dies

Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction last month sparked mass housing protests in Spain, has died, Madrid’s tenants’ union said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Abascal had been in hospital since her September 23 eviction from her home of more than 70 years, when police and social workers removed her by stretcher. A cause of death was not announced.

Thousands marched from Puerta del Sol towards parliament, chanting: “This is not a death. It’s a murder!” The tenants’ union said in a statement, “Now, following her passing, we are left with the example of the fight she waged and the legacy Maricarmen has left behind. And, above all, we will honor what she always asked of us: ‘Fight, keep fighting for what is yours.’”

Trade unions announced a nationwide general strike over housing on November 11. The protests, along with parliament’s rejection of eviction-curbing decrees, prompted Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call an early election for November 29.