The Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE) took part in the recent mobilisation against evictions and for the right to housing that spread to several Spanish cities following the eviction of an 87-year-old woman, Maricarmen, from her home in Madrid.
PCTE takes part in protests against evictions in Spain
The woman had lived in the property for more than seven decades and was removed from the apartment in a highly publicised eviction. The case triggered demonstrations in Madrid and other cities amid wider concerns over Spain's housing crisis.
On 25 September, hundreds of people demonstrated in Valladolid outside the offices of the company associated with Maricarmen's former home. The protest was organised urgently by the Valladolid Housing Union under the slogan “Rentiers guilty, government responsible.” The mobilisation was supported by the PCTE and its youth organisation.
PCTE calls for organising workers and residents in neighbourhoods and workplaces against evictions and for the right to housing, and links the housing crisis to the growing burden of rents on working-class households.
The protests were not limited to Valladolid. Demonstrations and concentrations took place in Madrid, Barcelona, Oviedo and Zaragoza, with housing organisations using the Maricarmen case to draw attention to the wider problem of evictions and unaffordable housing. In Zaragoza, hundreds gathered under the slogan “For all the Maricarmens,” while the local housing union linked the protest to another scheduled eviction.
PCTE has also recently intensified its broader mobilisation around working-class struggles. On 24 September, it published a statement calling for workers in different sectors and regions to connect their struggles rather than conducting them separately, emphasising the need to build sustained organisation through workplaces and local communities.