An 87-year-old Spanish woman was forcibly evicted Wednesday from the Madrid apartment she had lived in for more than 70 years, in a case that highlights a growing housing crisis in the country.Video showed Maricarmen Abascal, who is a wheelchair user, being taken out of the building in the Spanish capital’s Retiro neighborhood on a stretcher and driven away in an ambulance.Hundreds of supporters had gathered outside the building overnight to protest her eviction, with dozens of police officers holding them back as some tried to stop the eviction from going ahead.In a social media video posted Friday by the Madrid tenants union, Abascal gave thanks for the support she had received.Maricarmen Abascal is carried out her apartment building on a stretcher on Wednesday.
The building was acquired by an investment fund in 2018.Luciano Lima / Getty ImagesAbascal’s lawyer, Beatriz Duro, described the force used in the eviction as “completely disproportionate and unnecessary” and decried the intransigence of the building’s owners.The case has brought new attention to an ongoing housing crisis in major cities across Spain, as gentrification has caused rents to skyrocket and the stock of affordable housing to shrink, leading to growing public anger.Tenants unions and other housing groups on Thursday held protests and rallies in 16 cities, including Granada, Logroño and Zaragoza.The Madrid tenants union plans to hold another major protest in the capital Saturday evening.An investment fund acquired Abascal’s building in 2018 and sought a steep increase in her rent, and she had been fighting eviction for more than five years, according to the Madrid tenants union.Duro said court officials and representatives of the fund, Urbagestión, had refused to suspend the eviction despite a pending court filing, humanitarian appeals and evidence that public authorities were working to secure alternative accommodation.“They’re all inhumane,” Abascal said in a Spanish telev...