What to know about Spain's housing protests sparked by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman

MADRID, Spain -- Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Spain in recent weeks to demand government help for renters as anger surged following the widely publicized eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.

The social unrest has rocked Spanish politics and prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call early elections after his government failed to get the backing of a fragmented Parliament to pass emergency measures to stop evictions and curb real estate speculation.

The protests have been mostly peaceful, though violence erupted in Barcelona on Monday night, just hours after Sánchez announced he was dissolving Parliament and calling elections for Nov. 29.

Around 1,000 protesters camped out in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol — one of the capital’s most popular public spaces — over the past week, after María del Carmen Abascal, who became widely known as “Maricarmen,” was evicted from her home of seven decades in downtown Madrid on Sept. 23.

Maricarmen was taken to a hospital in fragile health, where she died on Wednesday for causes unknown, sparking more protests.

Prime Minister Sánchez is hoping to channel the fury over Maricarmen and the housing crunch into another term in office. Polls in recent months point toward a possible victory for conservative and far-right parties, which will campaign on immigration concerns and the legal cases involving Sánchez's Socialist party and family.

Here is what to know about Spain's housing crisis and the political battle over how to address it.

Maricarmen set the spark

Spaniards fed up with housing costs periodically march in major cities demanding action from lawmakers and blaming real estate speculators as well as tourist apartment platforms like Airbnb for rising rents.

But a new wave of indignation swept Spain when Maricarmen, who used a wheelchair, was carried on a stretcher from her apartment after police cordoned off the street. Televised images of the eviction prompted thousands of people to protest in Madrid and other cities across the country.

The Spanish real estate company which had insisted on evicting her in order to rent the property at a much higher price ended up reaching an agreement for her to return to the apartment. But she died before she could go back home.

Maricarmen remains the embodiment of the struggle against suffocating rental costs. Protesters have carried signs with slogans such as “Not even one more Maricarmen!” and demonstrations have been cropping up in cities across the country.

Spain is hard-hit due to small rental market

The housing crunch has been simmering for years in Spain, eating into household budgets and angering voters. While many countries have similar circumstances, Spain’s poorest and its young are being particularly impacted, because they can’t afford to purchase a home and are being squeezed by the country's small stock of rental properties.

The average rent for Spain has almost doubled in the last 10 years. The price per square meter has risen from 8.20 euros (now $9.30) in 2016 to 15.10 euros ($17.15) this year, according to the real estate website Idealista.

Spain’s government said that 26% of Spaniards who rent housing spend an average of 40% of their income on rent and utilities, compared with the European Union average of 18% of renters who do so.

Spain ranks near the bottom of countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for government-owned rental properties, which represent less than 2% of its available stock. The EU average is 8%.

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Wilson reported from Barcelona. Associated Press writer Renata Brito in Barcelona contributed to this report.