Evictees commit suicide as Spain debates reform
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MADRID (AFP) - A retired couple in Spain killed themselves on Tuesday because they faced eviction, police said, as lawmakers considered legislation to save ruined homeowners from being thrown into the street.
In the latest in a series of suicides reportedly linked to evictions, the couple, aged 68 and 69, killed themselves in their home in Calvia on the island of Mallorca, a police spokesman who asked not to be named told AFP.
Hours later in Madrid, members of parliament agreed to debate a citizens' motion to protect poor homeowners from eviction - a fate faced by hundreds of thousands in Spain.
The lower house of parliament agreed to debate the bill after lawmakers of the ruling conservative Popular Party threw their weight behind it despite earlier resistance, the party's parliamentary spokesman Alfonso Alonso said.
