(en) WSM.ie: Direct action prevents eviction of 70 year old woman in Madrid

On April 5, 2013 M?nica, a 70 year old woman with Alzheimer?s, was scheduled to be evicted 
from the apartment she has lived in since 1974. In the shadows of Real Madrid?s Santiago 
Bernab?u Stadium located right around the corner from her apartment building, community 
members and organizers from the Popular Assembly of Tetuan of the 15M movement 
(indignados) and the Mortgage Victims Platform (PAH) gathered outside her building at 10AM 
chanting ?This eviction! We?re going to stop it!? ---- Anti-eviction demonstrators blocked 
the building?s entrances causing the police to resort to brutal arrests and assaults to 
enter. Their presence made it nearly impossible for the authorities to remove M?nica and 
her possessions from the building. In an attempt to intimidate the movement, the police 
accosted journalists, smashed the cameras of photographers, and knocked several elderly 
demonstrators to the ground.

Undaunted, the crowd held strong until the announcement came a few hours later that an 
agreement had been struck to postpone M?nica?s eviction. Although the authorities could 
return at any time, the community?s collective power of refusal in the face of foreclosure 
won M?nica at least another night in her home. As the strength of the Madrid 
anti-foreclosure movement grows, authorities are increasingly likely to back down in the 
face of popular direct action. This spring the PAH is launching their Primavera Verde 
campaign to bolster an already vibrant movement for social justice.

Video made about the action by Mark Bray: http://youtu.be/SPmBHZzpp70