#NiUnaMaricarmenMás (“Not one more Maricarmen”) is the slogan and umbrella hashtag of Spain’s 2026 housing-crisis protests. It took its name from María del Carmen “Maricarmen” Abascal, the 87-year-old carried out of her Madrid flat on a stretcher on September 23, 2026 after a 70-year tenancy ended — a scene that fueled a Puerta del Sol encampment, a Madrid march that organisers put at over 300,000 on September 26, demonstrations in more than 40 cities, and a 500,000-strong rally (70,000 by authorities’ count) on October 3.
Quick Facts
- Slogan: “Ni una Maricarmen más” / “Not one more Maricarmen”
- Trigger: September 23, 2026 eviction of María del Carmen “Maricarmen” Abascal, 87, from a Madrid flat she had lived in since 1956
- First major march: September 26, 2026 in Madrid (25,000 per Government Delegation; 300,000+ per Sindicato de Inquilinas e Inquilinos de Madrid)
- Occupation: Puerta del Sol encampment beginning September 26, 2026 — 1,000+ tents by October 1
- Cities participating by October 3: 50+ (including Barcelona, Seville, Málaga, Valencia, Bilbao, Santander, Palma, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santiago de Compostela)
- October 3 Madrid rally: ~500,000 (organisers) / ~70,000 (authorities)
- Lead organiser: Sindicato de Inquilinas e Inquilinos de Madrid (Madrid Tenants’ Union)
Origin
The slogan traces to a single eviction. María del Carmen Abascal had moved into her apartment in Madrid’s Retiro district in 1956. In September 2026, after her building was sold to a property company and her long-standing tenancy was terminated, Spanish police forced the door and carried her out on a stretcher. Phone-shot video of the removal, and a video message Abascal recorded urging Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to legislate so that “what has happened to me” would not happen again, drove public outrage. The Sindicato de Inquilinas e Inquilinos de Madrid — Madrid’s tenants’ union — called a protest for September 26 under the rallying cry “Ni una Maricarmen más,” and the phrase migrated into a hashtag the same weekend.
The Movement
The movement framed the eviction as a symptom of a wider housing crisis — rising rents, a shortage of affordable homes, and tenure arrangements that leave long-term tenants exposed when properties change hands. Demonstrators demanded that the central government pass a housing decree establishing indefinite rental contracts, a rent freeze, and a moratorium on evictions. The movement is non-partisan on its face but has been widely compared to the 2011 15-M (Indignados) occupation of Puerta del Sol in its tactics, choice of location, and generational breadth.
The Puerta del Sol encampment
The September 26 march ended with roughly 150 tents raised in the Puerta del Sol as “a measure of pressure” on the Sánchez government. By October 1 the camp had grown past 1,000 tents and spawned sister camps in Barcelona’s Plaça de Catalunya (500+ tents), Seville (100+), Málaga (150–170), Valencia, Bilbao, Santander, Palma and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Press coverage repeatedly framed the camp as an echo of the 2011 Indignados / #15M occupation of the same square — this time organised by renters rather than general-grievance assemblies.
The October 3 mobilisation
On October 3 the Sindicato de Inquilinas called a nationwide day of action under the slogan “Hacia la huelga general” (“Towards a general strike”). Organisers counted around 500,000 in Madrid; the Delegación del Gobierno put the figure at ~70,000. More than 50 cities took part. The explicit demand that day was approval of the “Decreto Mari Carmen” — an emergency housing decree that would make rental contracts indefinite, cap rent increases, and freeze evictions.
Key Figures
- María del Carmen Abascal — the 87-year-old whose eviction gave the movement its name; recorded a public video asking Sánchez to legislate so “that what has happened to me” doesn’t happen to others.
- Sindicato de Inquilinas e Inquilinos de Madrid — Madrid’s tenants’ union; called both the September 26 march and the October 3 nationwide day of action, and runs the Puerta del Sol camp’s assembly.
- Pedro Sánchez — Spanish Prime Minister; vowed on September 27 to work “against the clock” to approve the housing decree, framing it as “a matter of humanity.”
- Isabel Díaz Ayuso — Madrid regional president; gave the central government 48 hours to clear the Puerta del Sol encampment, drawing counter-protest.
Outcomes & Policy
By early October 2026 the Sánchez government had approved two emergency decrees extending protection from evictions and the automatic renewal of rental contracts, informally labelled by media and protesters as the “Decreto Maricarmen.” Protest organisers kept the camp standing and called for a general strike, saying the measures did not go far enough — specifically, no indefinite rental contracts, no rent freeze, and no permanent eviction moratorium. The decree still needed congressional ratification, with the governing coalition negotiating votes from Sumar and the Catalan pro-independence party Junts.
Social Media & Spread
The hashtag spread on X and Instagram alongside Spanish-language variants and was carried in English coverage as “Not one more Maricarmen.” Short clips of the eviction itself, Abascal’s video message, and the Puerta del Sol encampment at night and in the rain accumulated millions of views across platforms, and were the main vehicle for the slogan’s spread outside Spain into European and Latin American feeds.
Cultural Impact
Spanish and international press immediately framed Maricarmen as “a new symbol” of Spain’s housing crisis — a single, named person whose eviction crystallised a diffuse policy fight into a slogan and a street movement. European and Latin American housing-rights groups echoed the hashtag, and comparisons to the 2011 15-M occupation and to #GiletsJaunes placed the movement in a lineage of social-media-coordinated European street action that forced emergency policy concessions. The naming formula also deliberately echoes Latin America’s #NiUnaMenos — swapping the gendered-violence frame for an eviction one — and that lineage was called out in coverage from the first week.
Variations & Related Tags
- #NiUnaMaricarmenMás / #NiUnaMaricarmenMas — the slogan in its two common spellings.
- #DecretoMariCarmen — the hashtag campaign for the emergency housing decree the movement demanded.
- #MaricarmenEffect / “efecto Maricarmen” — press shorthand for the political impact of the eviction.
- #NiUnaMenos — the earlier Latin American anti-femicide movement whose naming template this slogan borrows.
- #15M / Indignados — the 2011 Puerta del Sol occupation repeatedly invoked in coverage as the historical reference point.
- #GiletsJaunes — the French yellow-vest protests, frequently compared European precursor of social-media-coordinated street action.
Sources
- https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/27/protesters-camp-in-madrid-in-demonstration-against-spain-housing-crisis
- https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/02/fact-check-whats-going-on-with-spains-maricarmen-housing-protests
- https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/03/nearly-500000-people-protest-in-madrid-over-spains-housing-crisis
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/3/tens-of-thousands-protest-in-spain-after-failed-housing-reforms
- https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-10-03/tens-of-thousands-protest-across-spain-over-housing-crisis
- https://www.tovima.com/world/spains-housing-crisis-has-a-new-symbol-maricarmen/
- https://en.ara.cat/politics/the-puerta-sol-encampment-resists-the-rain-either-you-are-the-side-of-the-tenants-or-the-side-of-the-vulture-funds_1_5863190.html
- https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/10/05/ykby-o05.html