Police in Portugal dismantled housing protest camps in Lisbon and Porto in the early hours of Sunday, using rubber batons against activists and arresting more than 30 people. The operations marked the latest incident in days of clashes between police and protesters who, inspired by similar camps in Spain, had set up tents in central squares to protest the deepening housing crisis in the country.
Dozens of officers, some with dogs, intervened shortly after 2 a.m. on Sunday to clear more than 100 tents set up in Rossio Square in Lisbon. Police said they had also dismantled a smaller camp of around 50 tents in Dom João I Square in Porto. The camp in the heart of Lisbon had been set up after thousands of people marched against housing prices, which have risen sharply and now exceed the average income in the country.
Police described their actions as proportionate and said they had previously asked people to leave the camps voluntarily. The operations in the two cities led to the arrest of 31 people for disobedience and the removal of 171 structures, according to a police statement on social media. Eleven people were injured, including three police officers. The Reuters news agency reported that 25 people detained in Lisbon had been released with orders to appear in court on Monday.
The group “Casa Para Viver” (A Home to Live In) disputed the police figures, saying the raids had left more than 20 people injured after police intervened with batons, dogs and rubber bullets. The group called the choice of the early morning hours to use police dogs and rubber bullets against people who were sleeping or protesting peacefully a “political decision”, and called for further protests. They stressed that the government prefers to suppress those who speak out against the housing crisis rather than solve it. Fabian Figueiredo, a deputy of the Left Bloc, described the police action as a “wound inflicted” on the country’s democracy, stressing that the fight for a home and peaceful protest are rights guaranteed by the constitution.
Housing crises in Portugal have deepened significantly, with house prices doubling since 2017 and rents almost doubling, fueling one of the most acute housing affordability crises in Europe. The situation has been driven by market liberalization, the issuing of “golden visas”, schemes for digital nomads and the spread of short-term rentals. Activists have called on the centre-right government to abandon proposed legislation that would ease evictions and end rent restrictions for new contracts, a bill that recently passed its first parliamentary reading.
Taken from The Guardian