VIOLENT clashes erupted on the streets of Madrid yesterday amid widespread anger over the forced eviction of an 87-year-old disabled woman from the flat she has lived in for more than six decades.
Riot police used teargas to disperse protesters as the tenant, known as Maricarmen, was booted out of her apartment on Calle del Alcalde Sainz de Baranda in Madrid’s Retiro district at around 1pm on Wednesday afternoon.
Maricarmen, who has a 50 per cent disability and uses a wheelchair, was carried out by officials on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance before being taken to Gregorio Marañon hospital, where she was admitted with severe exhaustion, anxiety and stress.
She is expected to move in with her cousin, Vicente, who lives 90 kilometres away in Segovia in a tiny flat already inhabited by four people.
Wednesday’s eviction was the fourth attempt to force Maricarmen from her home in just eight years, with previous efforts blocked by activists and legal challenges.
But a Supreme Court verdict earlier this year ruled in favour of property investment firm Urbagestion, who argued they had the right to evict her since she was unable to pay the level of rent they had set.
Maricarmen’s father first rented the property in 1956 and passed the tenancy down to his wife and then daughter, during which time the rent was capped.
However, Urbagestion bought the apartment block in which the property is located in 2018 and quickly raised the monthly rent from €500 to €2,650 per month, citing a legal loophole.
The Madrid-based investment firm, founded in 2005 and owned by businessmen Ricardo and Fernando Alonso, then lowered the rent to €1,650.
But Maricarmen was still unable to cough up the full amount with her monthly pension of €1,350.
Urbagestion reportedly rejected all attempts at negotiation, including offers from filmmakers, authors and writers to either cover the difference in rent or pay the amount in full for the rest of Maricarmen’s life.
The company has also filed legal complaints against the Tenants’ Union for alleged coercion and has warned the press against using the term ‘vulture fund’ in relation to the firm.
Early on Wednesday morning, hundreds of activists gathered outside Maricarmen’s apartment building in an attempt to prevent her eviction.
Attendees included the actress Ana Belen, the MEP Irene Montero and actors Carlos Bardem – brother of Javier.
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After nearly an hour of negotiation failed, around 50 riot police were deployed to clear the crowd
Police used pepper spray to clear a group who had occupied the stairwell, while officers also deployed teargas and charged protesters with batons.
Large groups chanted ‘Maricarmen stays’, ‘This eviction is murder’ and ‘The atico of Ayuso for Maricarmen’, in reference to the controversial €6.3m purchase of a luxury Madrid penthouse by the administration of Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the right-wing president of the Community of Madrid.
Later on Wednesday evening, around 10,000 people gathered on Calle Martinez Campos in the upmarket neighbourhood of Chamberi – the location of the penthouse, which regional officials insist was bought as a temporary office while renovation works were carried out at the usual regional government HQ.
The march moved towards Paseo de la Castellana, where police fired rubber bullets in an attempt to redirect the crowd.
Several protesters sat down on the road and blocked traffic for around 20 minutes.
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Simultaneous protests also took place in Avila, Barcelona, Cadiz, Sevilla, Oviedo and Valencia.
Speaking from New York, where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly, prime minister Pedro Sanchez attacked the eviction and placed the blame firmly on Madrid’s regional and city governments – both run by the rival Partido Popular (PP).
“The eviction of Maricarmen is a social tragedy that we cannot accept as a country,” he said.
“There are two administrations with competence in protecting vulnerable people like Maricarmen – the Madrid city council and the Community of Madrid – who are more worried about buying 200-square-metre terraced penthouses but have ignored a social tragedy that should have been resolved.”
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Sanchez suggested his government would step in but admitted that any action would require parliamentary support.
“The government will give a response to this social tragedy, but I ask for vision to push this housing decree through,” he said, referring to an anti-eviction protection decree already rejected twice in congress thanks to votes from the PP, far-right Vox and Catalan separatists Junts.
“We need parliament’s help so that a case like Maricarmen’s never happens again, in Madrid or anywhere else in Spain,” he added.
Housing minister Isabel Rodriguez Garcia said her ministry had attempted to contact Urbagestion’s lawyer up to ten times, offering to pay the difference in rent or even purchase the flat.
She accused the company of ‘laughing at everyone’ and criticised the Madrid regional government for ‘rolling out the red carpet for these speculators and vultures’.
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