The dramatic eviction of an 87-year-old woman from the home in Madrid where she lived for seven decades has drawn attention to the depth of Spain’s housing crisis.
The tenant of the flat in the Retiro area of central Madrid, Maricarmen, was unable to pay the rent set by the investment firm that owns it.
Maricarmen’s father first rented the property in 1956 and she continued as the tenant after her parents died, during which time there was a cap on the rent.
However, the company that bought the property in 2018, Urbagestión, cited a legal glitch allowing it to raise her rent from €500 (£428; $572) to €2,650.
It subsequently lowered the new rent to €1,650 but Maricarmen was still unable to pay it with her monthly pension of €1,350.
Three previous attempts to evict her were blocked by the courts and the case has received increasing media attention.
Supporters of Maricarmen camped outside the building on Tuesday night, joined by celebrities including Javier Bardem’s brother, Carlos, and the singer Ana Belén, who read out the poem Desahucio (Eviction) by Rafael Alberti.
Several hundred people, mostly youngsters, had gathered by the morning in a bid to prevent the eviction from taking place, chanting “Maricarmen stays”. Some activists blocked the stairs inside the building.
In a video posted on social media, a tearful Maricarmen thanked those who had come out to support her against “this cruel struggle by someone who wants to earn money”.
Police cordoned off a section of the street and removed people from the entrance to the building, including members of the media, striking some protesters with batons.
A representative of tenants’ organisation Sindicato de Inquilinas shouted at the police through a megaphone: “Think for 10 seconds about Maricarmen, who could be your own grandmother.”
“There is a police deployment as if this were a military operation,” said Beatriz Duro, Maricarmen’s lawyer. “This is the fourth time [they’ve tried to evict her] but the first time they’ve come right to the door of the property. It’s completely disproportionate.”
In June, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights called for the pensioner’s eviction to be halted and for her to be offered affordable alternative accommodation. The local government said she had declined its offer of a place in an elderly care home.
The central government said Urbagestión had refused its repeated attempts to negotiate Maricarmen’s situation. The BBC has attempted to contact the company.
The possibility of a last-minute reprieve for Maricarmen appeared when an anonymous donor offered to pay most of her rent. However, Urbagestión reportedly rejected the offer and the eviction went ahead.
“Today is a very sad day, a very dramatic day, when it’s plain to see the effects of unbridled speculation, of not wanting to control the market, of putting out the red carpet for the vultures and the speculators,” said Housing Minister Teresa Rodríguez.
A shortage of available housing has been blamed for soaring rental costs in recent years, which have left millions of Spaniards struggling to find affordable homes.
In Madrid, rentals have increased by more than 100% over the last decade, according to property site Idealista, with a 10% rise over the last year.
The Socialist-led government of Pedro Sánchez has frequently targeted companies whose investment pushes up housing costs. In January, the prime minister said he aimed to “protect those who are most exposed to that speculation and that greed”.
However, some critics of the government say it needs to work harder to build new homes, and others warn that its rhetoric discourages many owners from placing their properties on the rental market.
