Madrid's most famous square looks a little different right now: dozens of tents have taken over Puerta del Sol, where hundreds of protesters have set up a continuing camp over Spain's housing crisis. The trigger was the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, removed by police from her Retiro district flat of more than 70 years — carried out on a stretcher after her building changed hands in 2018 and the new managers pushed to raise her rent from €500 to as much as €2,650 a month.
Saturday's march through central Madrid drew anywhere from 25,000 (police estimate) to 300,000 people (organisers' claim), with sister protests in around 40 other cities under the banner 'Not one more Maricarmen'. Afterwards, around 100 tents went up in Sol, and protesters say they won't leave until the government acts. The first night passed peacefully, and families have since joined, with the Madrid Tenants' Union running assemblies and calling for sleeping bags, food and water.
All eyes are on Tuesday's cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says his government is working 'against the clock' to bring a new housing decree forward, but its contents are fiercely contested. Coalition partner Sumar has threatened a no-show unless the measure is strong, Podemos wants legally mandated rent cuts and the expropriation of homes held by big investment funds, while JxCat and the Basque Nationalist Party will only back measures that don't hit small landlords. With no parliamentary majority, Sánchez needs at least some of them.
The symbolism of the location is deliberate. Fifteen years ago the same square hosted the 15-M 'indignados' camps, born of anger over unemployment, austerity and evictions. Former Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has called Maricarmen 'our Rosa Parks', and the union wants stronger eviction protections, rent controls and indefinite rental contracts.
Why should travellers care? Because the anger is partly about you — or at least about the tourism economy. Rents in Madrid have surged over the past decade, squeezed by population growth, a tiny stock of public housing and demand linked to tourism. If you're planning a stay in central Madrid, expect a heavier police presence and possible disruption around Puerta del Sol while the camp lasts, and consider that short-term visitor demand is part of the pressure locals are protesting. Travelling with awareness — and favouring legit, longer-standing accommodation over speculative tourist flats — is a small way not to add to the problem.
Whether Tuesday's decree is enough will determine if the tents stay up. Either way, the case has turned an individual eviction into a national reckoning over who Spain's cities are actually for.
