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.
\n\nVideo 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.
\n\nSupporters had gathered outside her building overnight on Friday, 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.
\n\nAbascal’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.
\n\nThe 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 fierce public anger.
\n\nOn Saturday, tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Madrid to protest the eviction, some setting off flares. They carried placards reading “Not one more eviction…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/