Housing protesters camped out in Madrid's most iconic square awoke from their third night in the open to await details from the Spanish government on what it''s doing to tackle a crisis that has brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets in recent days.

The protests and the encampment in Puerto del Sol followed the eviction of Maria del Carmen Abascal, 87, who was carried out on a stretcher from the apartment where she had lived for seven decades.