[Source: Reuters]

The Spanish octogenarian whose eviction last week has triggered nationwide protests over Spain’s housing crisis will be able to return ​to her Madrid house after reaching an agreement with her landlord, her lawyer said on Monday.

Protesters camped outside the Madrid regional government’s ‌headquarters for a third day to object to her eviction and demand stronger protection for tenants in the face of a housing shortage and soaring rents.

The Spanish government said on Monday it was working to approve some relief measures.

Protests boiled over last week after police evicted 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal on a stretcher from her Madrid home of more than seven decades because of an ​eviction order secured by the investment fund that bought her apartment.

Abascal will pay a rent similar to the one she had under a new ​eight-year contract, her lawyer Beatriz Duro told a press briefing.

The octogenarian, who was hospitalized following her eviction, plans to sign ⁠the deal once she feels better, the lawyer said, describing it as unprecedented to reach an agreement that reverts an already concluded eviction.

Her landlord could not ​be immediately reached for comment.

Last week, hundreds of people outside her building clashed with police, while the Socialist-led central government condemned the centre-right regional administration for not preventing the ​eviction.

By Monday, hundreds of tents filled the central Puerta del Sol square, echoing the protests of 2011 when it was occupied for a month by activists demonstrating against austerity measures adopted during the global financial crisis.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his cabinet, which meets on Tuesday, would approve some housing relief measures that he did not detail and called for parties to back them ​in parliament at a later vote, saying protecting vulnerable tenants “is not a matter of ideology but of humanity”.

Unlike in the financial crisis, when many evictions were linked ​to mortgage defaults after a property bubble burst, a growing share are now related to rent disputes, reflecting a shortage of properties. Rents have on average doubled over the past decade, ‌far outpacing ⁠salaries.