Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the eviction of an 87-year-old Madrid pensioner as an “unacceptable tragedy”. Maricarmen, who had lived in her apartment for 70 years, was evicted after a real estate firm raised her monthly rent by 275 percent to 2,650 euros.
Supporters of Maricarmen said she had always paid her rent, but the firm’s drastic rent increase led to a lengthy legal battle. The case ultimately reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the firm, paving the way for the eviction.
Dozens of activists attempted to stop the eviction by camping outside Maricarmen’s building, but police officers charged and dragged them away. Health workers escorted the pensioner, who uses a wheelchair, into an ambulance as protesters chanted “Maricarmen, you aren’t alone!”
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Sanchez criticized the role of the conservative-run city and regional governments, saying “this is a social tragedy that we cannot accept”. Amnesty International Spain also slammed the eviction, calling it “a violation of human rights” and “a system that puts the speculative interests of a vulture fund before Maricarmen’s right to stay in her house”.
Maricarmen had previously spoken out against the company, calling them “inhuman, and all in order to make money”. “You cannot make a person live for seven years with a machete hanging over their neck,” she said, blaming the national, regional and city authorities for her plight. Sanchez said approving a law to prevent such evictions was “a shared responsibility” between his minority leftist coalition and the rest of parliament.
Housing has for years been a top concern for Spaniards as supply falls short of demand, with rents and purchasing prices soaring relentlessly as elsewhere in the European Union. Residents in the world’s second-most visited country blame short-term tourist rentals such as Airbnb for driving up prices and cutting supply, sparking protests in hotspots including Barcelona.
