Evicted 87-year-old who became a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis has died

(CNN) — Maria del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction from her Madrid home sparked a government crisis in Spain, has died, the Madrid Tenants’ Union announced on Tuesday.

Known in Spain simply as Maricarmen, she died just weeks after hundreds of people turned up to her door trying to prevent her from being evicted from the home where she lived for more than 70 years.

She was forcibly removed on a stretcher after the private investment company, which owns the building in Madrid’s upmarket Retito district, hiked her rent from €500 ($560) to €2,650 ($2,970) – an amount that was unaffordable for the pensioner.

“We regret to announce that Maricarmen has passed away today. As you all know, she was evicted on September 23, and has remained in hospital ever since,” the union said Wednesday.

Maricarmen’s eviction sparked a wave of nationwide demonstrations over Spain’s housing crisis, with protesters setting up a large encampment of hundreds of tents at Puerta del Sol in Madrid.

The landlord was forced to backtrack and agreed to allow her to move back once she was released from the hospital. “Although a historic agreement was reached that would have allowed her to return to her home, this solution came too late,” the union added on Wednesday.

Last month, Maricarmen spoke to supporters via a video from the hospital and urged them to continue to fight for their homes.

“Please fight,” she told supporters. “I send you all a very big hug and thank you for everything.”

There was an outpouring of grief and anger among protesters following the news of Maricarmen’s death.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences to Maricarmen’s family and loved ones, posting to X: “A hug also to all those who today feel this loss as our own. Rest in peace.”

People at the encampment in Madrid lit candles and held a moment of silence followed by an applause and shouts of “Maricarmen lives, the fight continues” and “We are all Maricarmen.” Some could also be heard chanting, “It’s not a death, it’s murder.”

A group of the protesters began marching towards the parliament, with heavy police presence and barriers erected in the area. The protests have been largely peaceful, except for a few clashes between the demonstrators and police.

Madrid’s Tenants Union, which was among the groups organizing the protests, claimed about 950,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country over the weekend.

On Monday, Sánchez called ⁠an ​early ​election for late November in an apparent effort to seize the initiative following nationwide protests.

The announcement came after Sánchez’s government last week failed to secure parliamentary backing for two proposed laws aimed at tackling the housing crisis.

Analysts now expect Sánchez to focus on housing in an effort to win over popular support. The Bank of Spain has warned that the country is short of some 700,000 homes.

“We need to renew people’s support,” Sánchez said on Monday. “We need to mobilize and win a much larger progressive majority in parliament, one that will allow us to overcome vested interests, deliver new social advances and continue transforming Spain.”

The conservative Popular Party, which opposed the proposed housing reforms, is leading in opinion polls. It argues that the crisis needs to be solved by building more homes rather than by regulation.

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CNN’s Tim Lister and Laura Sharman contributed to this report.