The demonstration called this Saturday by the Tenants' Union of Madrid has been gaining support after the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman who had to leave her home in Retiro this week, where she had lived for more than seven decades. The protest will begin at 6:30 PM at Puerta del Sol, will pass through Cibeles, and will end in front of the Congress of Deputies under the slogan "Not one more Maricarmen. Let’s point out those responsible." Maricarmen herself, still recovering at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, has publicly asked the people of Madrid to attend. "It couldn't be, but please fight," she stated in her first message after the eviction.
The call does not come from political parties, but from the Tenants' Union, yet in recent hours various organizations have adopted the call. Among the confirmed supporters is the Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Madrid (FRAVM), which has expressly asked citizens to participate in the demonstration for the right to decent housing. Also, Revolutionary Left and the Student Union have announced that they will join the call and have urged massive attendance at Sol.
The housing movement turns the case into a national protest
The support goes beyond Madrid. The Confederation of Tenants' Unions has promoted protests in cities such as A Coruña, Alicante, Bilbao, Huelva, Murcia, Salamanca, Granada, Santander, or Talavera de la Reina in recent days, while different territorial organizations have used Maricarmen's case to demand changes in rental and eviction regulations. The national organization is also preparing a common front to pressure the Government and its parliamentary partners with the aim of approving new housing measures.
The Tenants' Union presented this week its so-called "Maricarmen decree", a proposal that includes freezing certain rents, facilitating contract renewals, and strengthening guarantees against evictions. The intention is for some of these measures to reach the next Council of Ministers, although for now they are demands from the collective and not an approved regulation.
Podemos organizes a meetup before the march
In the political sphere, Podemos Rivas has published a specific call to participate in the protest, with a meeting point at 6:00 PM at Puerta del Sol, corner with Preciados, half an hour before the demonstration begins. The formation reproduces the slogan of the Union and encourages its members and supporters to join the route.
The position fits with the support that Podemos leaders already showed during the eviction. Ione Belarra and Irene Montero were among those who went to the vicinity of Maricarmen's home during the eviction, along with the deputy of Sumar and general secretary of the PCE Enrique Santiago. Belarra has demanded new measures against evictions from the Government, while Montero participated directly in the protests in front of the police device.
This does not automatically allow us to affirm that all of them will participate this afternoon. Until the early hours of this Saturday, there is no complete public list of politicians personally confirmed for the march from Sol to Congress, so it is advisable to differentiate between those who have publicly supported Maricarmen's cause and those who have expressly announced their attendance at this specific call.
Más Madrid and Sumar have also increased pressure over the case
The eviction has also provoked a strong reaction within the Sumar and Más Madrid space. The Minister of Health and leader of Más Madrid, Mónica García, has demanded that the next Council of Ministers bring "yes or yes" a new housing decree, while the spokesperson for Más Madrid in the Assembly, Manuela Bergerot, has defended greater public intervention on homes used for speculative purposes.
Sumar has gone even further and has threatened not to attend the next Council of Ministers if the agenda does not include housing measures. The case of Maricarmen has thus become one of the elements that have reopened the differences between the PSOE and its minority partner regarding the scope that rental and eviction regulation should have.
Ana Belén, Carlos Bardem, and Rozalén, among the cultural supports
The support movement for Maricarmen has had a strong presence from the cultural world for months. In the previous mobilizations, artists such as Rozalén, Ismael Serrano, Alberto San Juan, Juan Diego Botto, Facu Díaz, and Olga Rodríguez participated or showed their support. During the vigil prior to the eviction, Ana Belén, Ignatius Farray, and Marwan were also present, while other information places among those who came to support her Carlos Bardem, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Inés Hernand, Alba Carrillo, and Sarah Santaolalla.
Ana Belén has been one of the most visible faces of the support. The actress and singer was with Maricarmen the night before the eviction and later published messages defending that housing should be considered a right and not just a business. Carlos Bardem also attended the mobilizations, and Juan Diego Botto had already participated in previous support events.
Figures who were not necessarily at all the protests have also spoken out. Amaral spread a message with the phrase "Housing is a right," while the footballer Borja Iglesias made a call for collective mobilization. The cantaor Miguel Poveda dedicated a message to Maricarmen after her eviction and criticized the loss of social sensitivity that, in his opinion, the case reflected.
Again, there is an important difference: having publicly supported Maricarmen does not equate to having confirmed attendance at the demonstration this Saturday. For now, the available sources allow for the accreditation of their support for the case and their participation in previous events, but not a confirmed presence this afternoon of all those artists.
UGT and other organizations also react to the eviction
The traditional unions have also entered the debate. UGT has described Maricarmen's eviction as a violation of human rights and as a result of the failure of institutions, while the general secretary of CCOO, Unai Sordo, has called for much harsher measures against the presence of investment funds in the residential market. These statements show support for the general demands that have arisen after the case, although they do not necessarily equate to a formal adhesion of both unions to the Madrid demonstration this afternoon.
The FRAVM has made a direct call to attend, just like the Student Union and Revolutionary Left. We also have a meeting point publicly announced before the march departs. These are, so far, some of the clearest organizational supports for the specific call on Saturday.
Maricarmen, from the hospital: "Please, fight"
The most symbolic support comes from the protagonist herself. After leaving her home on a stretcher and being transferred to Gregorio Marañón, Maricarmen shared a video in which she thanked for the support received over the years and expressly asked to attend the demonstration. "My house has been my life and now I have to leave it behind, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep fighting," she stated.
This afternoon's mobilization will thus bring together the tenant movement, neighborhood associations, youth organizations, and supporters from various leftist forces, as well as people from the cultural sphere who have publicly supported Maricarmen in recent months. The final list of known attendees can only be established once the march begins, but the case has already achieved something unusual: connecting in a few days housing collectives, unions, artists, and political leaders around the same protest against evictions.