Portugal: police clear protest camps – thousands return to the squares
Police in Lisbon and Porto cleared tent camps protesting the housing crisis and arrested 55 people. In the evening, thousands poured back into the squares, according to organisers.
Archive image · Photo: This photo was taken by Anton Zelenov. Please credit this with : Photo : Anton Zelenov in the immediate vicinity of the / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Portuguese police shortly before 6am on Tuesday cleared housing protest camps in Lisbon and Porto and arrested 55 people. Around 200 tents had stood on Lisbon's Rossio Square since Saturday, while activists had camped on Dom João I Square in Porto for about ten days. There, protesters took down their own tents when ordered. A spokesperson for the Lisbon camp called the operation "very aggressive". Police superintendent Sergio Soares, however, said the eviction was "calm, proportionate and appropriate". Two people suffered minor injuries.
The detainees were released pending a court appearance in Lisbon. In the evening, more than 1,000 people returned to each site, according to organisers; in Lisbon, demonstrators tried to rebuild the camp. The activists want the centre-right government to withdraw a bill that would make evictions easier and end rent caps on new leases; it has passed its first reading in parliament. Home purchase prices in Portugal have more than doubled since 2017, and rents on new leases have nearly doubled.