An 87-year-old woman whose eviction last month triggered widespread housing protests across Spain and ultimately led to an early election has died, Madrid's tenants' union announced on Wednesday, provoking widespread grief and anger on the capital's streets.
Maricarmen Abascal had been in hospital since 23 September, when police and social workers removed her on a stretcher from the home she had lived in for more than 70 years.
Subsequent demonstrations have seen campaigners set up camp in one of Madrid's main squares to demand urgent action over a worsening housing crisis marked by property shortages and escalating rents.
Following the news of Abascal's death, thousands marched from the square, Puerta del Sol, towards parliament, chanting: "This is not a death. It's a murder!"
A cause of death was not announced.
Ms Abascal was expected to return home following her discharge, having agreed terms with the firm that owned the property.
Her eviction last month sparked demonstrations, including activists camping in a major Madrid square amid growing anger over the country's housing crisis.
Trade unions on Wednesday announced there will be a nationwide general strike over housing issues on November 11.
Those protests, along with parliament's rejection last week of decrees aimed at curbing evictions and limiting rent pressures, prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call an early election for November 29.
Mr Sanchez is seeking to shift the political narrative from his government's handling of a migrant crisis in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta and a series of corruption cases involving his Socialist Party and his family to the housing crisis, an area in which he can harness growing resentment about rising rents.
In a statement on X, Sanchez said: "All my love to Maricarmen’s family and loved ones. A hug as well to all of us who feel this loss as our own today.”
Angel Victor Torres, Spain's territorial policy minister, said Maricarmen had become a symbol of what was happening to many families as elderly and young people struggled to obtain their own homes or stay in them.
"Now, following her passing, we are left with the example of the fight she waged and the legacy Maricarmen has left behind. And, above all, we will honor what she always asked of us: 'Fight, keep fighting for what is yours,'" the tenants' union said in a statement.
A wave of indignation swept Spain when Abascal, who uses a wheelchair, was carried on a stretcher from her apartment after police cordoned off the street.
“I haven’t managed to defend my home, but I have fought so that others can learn to fight for what’s theirs,” Abascal said in a video recorded from a hospital bed after the eviction.
Televised images of the eviction prompted thousands of people to protest in Madrid and other cities across the southern European country.
The Spanish real estate company which had insisted on evicting her in order to rent the property at a much higher price ended up reaching an agreement for her to return to the apartment, her lawyer said, adding Abascal was “happy.”
Even with a satisfying resolution for “Maricarmen,” as Abascal is now widely known, she remains the embodiment of the struggle against suffocating rental costs.
Protesters have carried signs with slogans such as “Not even one more Maricarmen!" and demonstrations have been cropping up in cities across the country.
“The housing crisis will sweep this government away,” left-wing parliament member Gabriel Rufián of the ERC party said when she was evicted, urging Sánchez to act.