Madrid housing protest turns into Puerta del Sol camp after Maricarmen eviction

A mass demonstration against housing speculation and evictions concluded on Saturday evening with a call to occupy Puerta del Sol, the symbolic heart of Madrid's 2011 indignados movement. Protesters erected more than a dozen tents in front of the Casa de Correos, seat of the Madrid regional government led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, vowing to stay until the central government adopts emergency measures.

The march, convened by the Madrid Tenants' Union (Sindicato de Inquilinas), drew 25,000 participants according to the Government Delegation, while organisers claimed over 300,000. It was triggered by the 23 September eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman forced from her home of 70 years after a rent hike following the building's purchase by an investment fund.

“This has emerged from the streets, because we can't take any more. In this country the vultures, the rentiers and the businessmen govern. We don't want this kind of city. We're going to stay here until there are real and urgent measures.”

Valeria Racu, spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, said the encampment emerged from the streets because "we can't take any more" and demanded "real and urgent measures" from the government. Protesters chanted slogans against "rentiers" and held keys aloft as symbols of the housing crisis.

The union's proposed "Maricarmen Decree" calls for automatic conversion of all leases to indefinite contracts, a freeze on CPI-linked rent increases, regulation of seasonal and room-by-room lets, and structural measures to halt evictions. Parallel pressure protests were reported in cities including Burgos, León, Ibiza, Córdoba, Zamora, Almería and Huesca.

Police presence was limited to three routine patrol cars, according to one report, with no visible intervention as some demonstrators gathered stones and debris en route to the square. Organisers have set no fixed end date but aim to maintain pressure at least until Tuesday's Council of Ministers meeting, which could approve the decree.