Outrage has erupted across Spain after the forceful eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman by police from her Madrid apartment, where she had lived for decades. Demonstrations started in Madrid but have spread to Barcelona, where protestors on Wednesday rallied outside the Spanish Government Delegation. Urbagestión, a private equity firm, acquired Abascal’s apartment and raised the rent to several times what she had been paying, according to reports. Housing activists even camped out in front of Abascal’s apartment in an attempt to prevent her eviction. Abascal’s eviction comes amid a housing crisis in the country, where, around 4,000 evictions have been carried out this year. International investment funds and foreign buyers have been purchasing more and more residential homes and turning them into short-term tourist accommodation, raising housing prices for local residents, and Barcelona has been one of the hardest hit in Spain. Protesters there called for greater tenant protection and an end to evictions they say are driven by unaffordable rents.

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