The name of Maricarmen brings together the demonstrators again this Saturday in the center of Madrid. The Puerta del Sol is the meeting point of a mobilization against evictions called for 18:30, with a route to the Congress of Deputies. The Tenants' Union of Madrid calls to take to the streets under a slogan that turns the case of the neighbor from Retiro into a collective demand: "Not one more Maricarmen".
The protest comes three days after the eviction of the 87-year-old woman, who had lived for seven decades in the same house. Her departure from the home has triggered mobilizations and has brought to public debate a question that goes beyond her personal situation: what protection do those have who may lose their home without having an alternative.
From Sol to Congress, with a stop in front of the institutions
The announced itinerary starts from the Puerta del Sol, where the headquarters of the Community of Madrid is located, and continues along Alcalá Street to Cibeles, in front of the City Hall. Then it heads along the Paseo del Prado towards Neptune and the surroundings of the Congress of Deputies.
The route has a political reading: it connects the regional government, the municipal government, and the national Parliament. The call does not limit the protest to an administrative decision or a single institution, but demands answers about access to and permanence in housing.
The support for Maricarmen is the starting point. The ambition of the organizers is to turn that solidarity into changes that also protect other tenants.
Maricarmen asks for support from the hospital
Maricarmen herself has encouraged participation in the demonstration through a video disseminated by the union from the Gregorio Marañón Hospital. In that message, she thanks for the support received and expresses the desire that her experience serves other people.
"I have fought so that others learn to fight for theirs," she says when referring to the defense of housing.
Her words convey to the call the personal dimension of the conflict: behind the procedure and the political proposals is a woman who has lost the place where she spent most of her life.
What the tenants' unions demand
The mobilization occurs after the State Confederation of Tenant Unions presented a proposal dubbed the "Maricarmen decree." Among its demands are the freezing of rents and the automatic renewal of contracts.
The organization has also called on UGT and CCOO for a general strike for the right to housing. These are demands from the organizers, not approved measures or a strike already called.
A new protest after the mobilizations on Wednesday
The event this Saturday continues the protests that followed the eviction. The mobilization on Wednesday in Madrid gathered about 10,000 people. On Thursday, the concentrations spread to another 16 cities. Those figures correspond to the previous days, not to today's march.