Pensioner whose eviction sparked Spain housing protests dies

An eighty-seven-year-old woman whose eviction sparked nationwide protests in Spain and a political row that triggered early elections, has died. Maria Carmen Abascal was forcibly removed on a stretcher from her apartment of more than seventy years last month, after she was unable to afford rent increases. They went up from five hundred euro a month to over two and a half thousand a month. The company that owns the flat later offered to allow her to return at a lower rate, but she was unable to sign an agreement, and she'd been admitted to hospital. Miguel Murado is with us. He's a journalist based in Madrid. Miguel, good morning.

Good morning.

This is very sad news. She'd become a, such a prominent figure in Spain in recent weeks.

Yes, indeed. Though she was really not, no activist. She was just a, a, a pensioner, um, who found herself at the center of this, of this, uh, the whole conflict about housing in Spain. Uh, the fact that she has died just two weeks after being evicted makes her more of a symbol, and she's likely to be prominent in the, in the electoral campaigns, which, uh, will start very soon because the government has called a snap election, and, uh, the whole issue has been

Miguel, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going to, uh, I'm gonna try and ring you back and see if we can get a better line. So it's a little bit difficult to hear you at the moment. We'll come back after this break. [upbeat jingle] Let's go back to Spain and Spanish journalist Miguel Murado on the death of that elderly woman whose eviction sparked the early election in Spain. Tell us about the reaction, uh, to what's happened, and is housing really going to decide this election, Miguel?

Well, that is what the, the government is hoping. The-- Ha-have to say that the Spanish government is embroiled in a very long series of corruption scandals, um, and they are doing very poorly in the pol- in the polls. So, um, they thought that this issue of housing could be a boost for the political base. Um, so yeah, they are trying to make the election about, uh, about housing. On the other hand, though, uh, the opposition, well, replies that they've been in power for eight years. Uh, if anything, the housing problem has, uh, actually worsened enormously in Spain in these eight years. So they, they, well, they believe they are cynically exploiting this issue in order to, to, to improve their, their position in, in, in the polls. Um, but the housing problem is real. That is, that is true. And it is very important. Um, it will have a lot of support. Many people who feel that, um, that the rents are, are soaring and the, the shortage, uh, in housing is, is a real problem. So yes, it's, it could succeed as a, as a, as a, as a subject, a very important subject in the next election.

Miguel, thanks for speaking to us. Miguel Murado speaking to us from Madrid in Spain. Nine minutes to eight.