MADRID — Protesters camping in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square vowed on Monday to maintain pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez over Spain's housing crisis, as the 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked the movement urged them to “hold on.”
Around 100 tents now dot the capital's central square, a day after tens of thousands marched through Madrid to demand cheaper rents and stronger tenant protections. The encampment, organized by the Madrid Tenants' Union, has turned the tourist hub into a visible symbol of discontent.
The trigger was the police eviction last Wednesday of Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid apartment she had called home for 70 years. A real estate firm had bought the property and raised her rent by 275 percent, to €2,650 a month, according to the tenants' union. Images of Abascal being carried out on a stretcher after officers broke down her door sparked widespread outrage across Spain.
“I'm asking you all to be courageous, to fight, to defend what belongs to us,” Abascal said in a video posted on X by the union. She remains hospitalized but has become a rallying point for a movement that has tapped into deep frustration over runaway housing costs.
Sánchez under pressure from all sides
Sánchez, who has faced criticism even within his own Socialist camp for failing to tame prices since taking office in 2018, is due to present a new housing bill on Tuesday. The draft is expected to include automatic renewal of rental contracts and tighter restrictions on evictions. He has urged other parties to back the measure, but his minority government lacks a parliamentary majority, and a similar bill was defeated earlier this year.
“We are demanding that this decree-law be enacted, to protect the right to housing and prevent evictions,” said Carlota, a 29-year-old protester who spent the night among the tents. “We are living through a serious situation in Spain right now,” she added, calling for “an end to putting capital and investment funds before people.”
The protest movement has resonated beyond Madrid. In Granada, demonstrators have also gathered in solidarity, and the issue is likely to feature prominently in next year's general election campaign. The encampment in Puerta del Sol has become a potent political symbol.
Beatriz Blanco, a 37-year-old self-employed Madrilenian, told AFP she saw the crisis in her own circle. “I have a friend whose 65-year-old mother had to move back in with her because she could no longer pay her rent, which had just been increased,” she said. Blanco described property prices across the country as “completely insane.”
Official figures show the average rental price per square metre has nearly doubled over the past decade, reaching €15.10 in August, according to real estate portal Idealista. For buyers, the average price now stands at €2,355 per square metre, up more than 50 percent in the same period.
“It's an utterly unsustainable situation,” said Blanco, who was ready to remain in the camp “at least for another night.”
Sánchez was scheduled to visit a social housing scheme in Barcelona on Monday afternoon, and a demonstration was planned near the Congress Palace where he was expected to attend an awards ceremony in the evening. On Sunday, he said his government would work “tirelessly” to present new housing measures as early as Tuesday, following a cabinet meeting.
Activists will scrutinize those measures closely. Miriam Bue, spokesperson for the Spanish tenants' union, told AFP she expects “nothing” from the right-wing Popular Party, which controls the Madrid regional government and housing policy there. Instead, she hopes the left-wing central government will accept the union's proposal for “open-ended rental contracts” instead of the current five-year terms.
The standoff in Madrid echoes broader European debates over housing affordability, from Berlin to Lisbon. As the protest camp grows, the question is whether Sánchez can deliver a law that satisfies both tenants and investors — and whether his minority government can survive the political fallout.
