Elderly Madrid tenant urges Sánchez to fast-track decree ending eviction system

Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman evicted this week in Madrid, sent a video message to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez requesting that the Consejo de Ministros approve a decree law on Tuesday, which she labels the “Maricarmen decree.” The measure, she says, would be the initial move to abolish the system that allowed her forced departure from the apartment she had occupied for 71 years. The video, circulated by the Sindicato de Inquilinas, was recorded while Abascal was in hospital recovering from severe exhaustion caused by the eviction.

She also calls on the public to back an online petition launched by the union and to attend a protest scheduled for Saturday at 18:30 in Puerta del Sol, urging collective action to secure permanent housing contracts. The eviction has sparked nationwide protests, highlighting that thousands of evictions occur each year in Spain.