Maricarmen Abascal was 87 when they carried her out of her home on a stretcher.
It was September 23, and the apartment on Calle Alcalde Sainz de Baranda, in Madrid’s Retiro district, was the only home she had known since 1956. Her father had signed the old rent-controlled lease, and she had succeeded to it. Seventy years later, the eviction order was carried out despite dozens of activists trying to stop it. She had a recognized 50% disability, and Samur paramedics took her to the hospital.
According to Heraldo de León, a company had bought the building six years earlier at a particularly low price because she was still living there. Later, it proposed raising the rent to around 1.600 euros a month, while her pension was 1.400. Paintings, porcelain and family photographs were left in the apartment.
Her case sparked protests in dozens of squares across the country. Telemadrid reports that she had accepted an offer to return home once she was discharged. She died at Hospital Gregorio Marañón on October 7, after spending around fifteen days in hospital.
