Portugal Protesters Return to Squares Hours After Police Clear Camps
Thousands of protesters returned to Rossio Square in Lisbon and Dom João I Square in Porto on Wednesday, 21 October, hours after police cleared their camps in both cities. Al Jazeera reported that police also arrested 55 people during the clearances.
Police launched coordinated operations shortly before 6am, after warning protesters that the camps were illegal. In Porto, demonstrators took down their own tents. In Lisbon, the Public Security Police (PSP) removed the tents of the Lisbon camp at Rossio, which had held about 200 tents since Saturday. According to a report from the Portuguese newspaper SOL, the PSP said the 55 people detained had allegedly resisted the removal. Police said the detainees had refused to leave the protest area voluntarily, and two minor injuries were treated during the operation.
The 55 detainees were released pending a court appearance in Lisbon scheduled for Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera.
The camps were part of a wider campaign over housing. Activists demanded that the centre-right government withdraw a bill that would make it easier to evict tenants and end rent caps, which are limits on how much rent can rise, on new leases. The bill has passed a first parliamentary reading, an early stage in the lawmaking process. The Porto camp had been in place for about 10 days.
The protests follow a sharp rise in housing costs. Purchase prices in Portugal have more than doubled since 2017, and rents on new leases have nearly doubled, according to Al Jazeera.
Earlier in the month, the CGTP trade union federation organised demonstrations in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra that drew thousands of people, demanding better wages. Reuters reported that tens of thousands marched through central Lisbon on Saturday, 17 October, to protest soaring living costs and the housing crisis.
On Tuesday, about 50 people demonstrated in Leiria against what they described as police "bastonadas e pontapés" (beatings and kicks), and in solidarity with those detained during the camp clearances, RTP reported.
Demonstrators told DW that they would continue their campaign for affordable housing after the camps were cleared.
