Dispute over the Retiro eviction

Tensions between Madrid Regional President Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez escalated on 24 September 2026 following the eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid's Retiro district. Speaking from New York during the United Nations General Assembly on 23 September 2026, Sánchez criticized both the regional government and Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida for failing to protect vulnerable citizens.

“There are administrations with competence in protecting vulnerable people in the housing sector, such as the City Council and the Community of Madrid, more concerned with buying a penthouse with a 200-meter terrace with public money, ignoring a social tragedy that should have been resolved.”

Ayuso rejected the criticism during television remarks on Cuatro's program En boca de todos and at an economic forum on 24 September 2026. She stated that judicial authorities applied existing housing legislation and that the National Police carried out the eviction under court instructions. Ayuso confirmed that regional authorities had offered the evicted woman, Maricarmen, a free placement across regional residential centers three times before the eviction took place.

“I am not the one who sends the National Police, it is the government of Pedro Sánchez.”

Street demonstrations and security accusations

The eviction spurred demonstrations across Madrid. On the evening of 23 September 2026, up to 10,000 people, according to figures from the Government Delegation, gathered outside a residential property on Paseo del General Martínez Campos in the Chamberí district. The Community of Madrid had acquired the penthouse for 6.3 million euros before putting it up for sale again. Demonstrators assembled outside the building under banners demanding the property be reassigned to the evicted pensioner.

The demonstration occurred a day after three activists disrupted Ayuso's opening visit to The District real estate trade fair on 22 September 2026 by launching stink bombs and distributing leaflets against vulture funds and the regional administration. Speaking at the Ideas para crecer forum hosted by the Círculo de Empresarios on 24 September 2026, Ayuso accused Sánchez of fostering street disorder and creating an unbreathable environment to deflect attention from his own judicial inquiries.

“Those protests, since we started September, are becoming more violent, and they are not going to stop being so.”

Regional housing records and political responses

Ayuso defended regional housing policy against central government criticism, arguing that Madrid leads the country in constructing both subsidized and market-rate housing. She noted that approximately 25,500 evictions occur each year across Spain under national legal procedures that central coalition parties have held power to amend for eight years.

Madrid1

Catalonia5

Madrid

1

Catalonia

5

Data from the article text

In her comparative remarks, Ayuso stated that five evictions take place in Catalonia, governed by President Salvador Illa, for every single eviction carried out in the Community of Madrid. She added that Andalusia and the Valencian Community also register higher eviction totals than Madrid. Following a foundation gala in Brunete on the night of 23 September 2026, Ayuso also dismissed criticism from the Tenants Union, noting that she has consistently lived in rental housing and urging activists to direct their demands toward the national Ministry of Housing.