Maria del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Madrid pensioner whose eviction became the symbol of Spain’s housing crisis, has died in hospital, the Tenants Union announced.

Known as Maricarmen, she died on Wednesday, two weeks after police removed her on a stretcher from the flat she had lived in for more than 70 years. She paid an old regulated rent of about 500 euros from a pension of roughly 1,400 euros a month until new owners sought to end the tenancy.

Her eviction on September 23 sparked nationwide protests and an encampment in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. Demonstrators gathered again after her death, chanting ‘Maricarmen lives, the fight goes on.’

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez posted his condolences on X. He has called a snap general election for November 29, betting that anger over housing can save his left-wing coalition from a bruising defeat.

Sanchez this week presented emergency measures on housing, saying: ‘We will not allow more evictions like the one Maricarmen suffered.’