María del Carmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman, died after being hospitalized following her eviction from the Madrid apartment where she lived for 70 years. Her death came days after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap election for Nov. 29 amid Spain eviction protests over soaring housing costs.
What happened during the eviction?
During the Sept. 23 eviction, police cordoned off the street and removed demonstrators who tried to stop it. Images showed Abascal, who used a wheelchair, being carried out of her home on a stretcher. The real estate company that pursued the eviction had sought to lease the apartment at a substantially higher price.
Facing mounting public pressure, the company later agreed to let her return. She died before she could move back, and her cause of death has not been disclosed.
Why has her death shaken Spanish politics?
Her death has deepened a political crisis over housing costs and renewed pressure on Sánchez's Socialist Party. The prime minister called the snap vote after his government failed to pass emergency housing measures through Parliament. Demonstrators gathered outside Spain's Parliament and in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, where some observed a minute of silence.
Sánchez said he sent "all my love" to her family and loved ones. Conservative opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo also offered condolences and urged political leaders not to use her death for political advantage, saying that in the face of a person's death "we must only show respect."
Abascal's eviction and death have become a rallying point for housing activists demanding changes to Spain's rental policies, and Spain eviction protests have spread from Madrid to other Spanish cities.
