The China Mail - Madrid mourns evicted retiree, 'icon' of Spain housing protests

The death of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal on Wednesday produced tears and anger in the Spanish capital's emblematic Puerta del Sol square, the epicentre of the movement where hundreds are camping in protest.

From Sol, where an improvised shrine of candles, flowers and placards lay on Thursday morning, demonstrators headed to Abascal's former home in the upmarket Retiro district around three kilometres (two miles) away.

"Maricarmen will be an icon of struggle. She has made us wake up and say 'enough'. We cannot put up with this situation any longer," Rosa Marin, a 48-year-old teacher, told AFP.

Abascal, who used a wheelchair, died in hospital two weeks after her eviction from the apartment where she had lived for 70 years.

Taken away on a stretcher after the real estate company that owned the flat drastically hiked the rent, she became the face of Spain's long-running housing crisis and the catalyst for nationwide protests.

Maricarmen "was the last straw, she was able to cause all this", said photography teacher Anton Alexander, referring to the camps and demonstrations that have placed housing at the heart of the November 29 election.

"Ultimately, Maricarmen is a symbol. I hope this is a turning point," added Alexander. "I know I'm not going to buy a house, it overwhelms me."

- 'Injustice' -

People of all ages joined the march, chanting slogans such as "they aren't deaths, they are murders". A provisional estimate by the central government's delegation in the Madrid region put their number at 20,000.

Marisol Gallo, 82, attended in solidarity with the younger generations whose average salary falls far short of the astronomical rents and purchase prices demanded for a flat in Madrid.

"It's a disgrace, it's an injustice. This struggle will continue," Gallo told AFP, hoping the protests would "bring change" and make the authorities "get their act together".

Outside Maricarmen's former residence in Retiro, next to the popular UNESCO-listed park of the same name, the mourners applauded and left more flowers and candles before observing a silence.

A deal had been reached with the real estate firm allowing Abascal to return home at a lower rent, but she ultimately spent her final days in hospital.

Attempting to respond to the popular pressure, the left-wing government hastily agreed two decrees last week that included greater protections against evictions for vulnerable tenants and the automatic renewal of contracts.

But the conservative and far-right opposition voted down the minority coalition's measures in parliament, prompting Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call the early vote on Monday.

- 'Inept' politicians -

Whether Sanchez, who is trailing in most polls, can capitalise on the anger remains to be seen.

"We have a political class that is the most inept since the start of democracy," said 67-year-old retiree Manuel Martin, who joined the tribute to Abascal on Thursday evening.

"Housing is a structural issue that no party can solve alone. This is a national problem," he added.

Abascal "has been used as a political tool by one side and the other", she told AFP in Sol earlier on Thursday, criticising Sanchez for "doing nothing" on housing during his eight years in power.

Photography teacher Alexander said he wanted "a government that really takes responsibility for resolving this", warning that the Spanish welfare state was "collapsing".

W.Tam--ThChM