Protestsupdated 1h ago2 min read
Police Storm Housing Protest Camps In Lisbon And Porto, Arresting 13
“Police arrest 13 in Lisbon, Porto”
“Police clashed with protesters in Portugal after thousands demanded the government scraps a proposed law”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Police stormed housing protest camps in Lisbon and Porto early Sunday. About 100 injured and 13 detained, including two Mothers for the Camp-out.
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Evictions spark clashes
Police clashed with housing crisis protesters in Portugal after thousands demanded the government scrap the proposed law, framing the confrontation as part of the housing crisis dispute. DW said police stormed housing protest camps in Lisbon and Porto, and it placed the start of the operation at around 4:30 a.m. local time in Lisbon’s Rossio Square and Porto’s Dom Joao I Square. DW reported that police used shields and batons to disperse protesters, and it said some demonstrators threw bottles and paint at officers as they stormed the camps.
DW said police arrested 13 in Lisbon and Porto, with six arrests in Lisbon and seven in Porto for refusing orders to disperse, and it added that 13 police were injured with eight taken to hospital. Al Jazeera said police clashed with protesters in Portugal after thousands demanded the government scrap the proposed law, framing the confrontation as part of the housing crisis dispute.
Injuries, detentions, and claims
About a hundred people were injured and thirteen were detained during the new police eviction of housing camps from the early hours of this morning in Lisbon and Porto. Ten of the injured were hospitalized and thirteen police officers were among the injured, with Sergio Soares describing them as ten riot police and three plainclothes officers. Police simultaneously charged in Pedro IV Square in Lisbon and Joao I Square in Porto, triggering street runs in the centers of both cities, and it reported that the operation ended at 5:10 a.m.
Mendes Lopes told the public channel RTP that there are injured people “with their heads open” after an “absurd and unjustifiable” situation in a democratic country like Portugal. Camp-out organizations announced they would file criminal complaints against the Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, and against the National Director of the Police, Coelho de Moura.
Political storm and accountability
The police repression of peaceful camp occupations sparked a political storm that forced Portugal’s president, socialist António José Seguro, to speak out after the violent evictions of the weekend of October 24 and 25. António José Seguro said, “I didn’t like what I saw,” about the violent evictions, and it said the president renewed his call for accountability after a new eviction left between 80 and 100 injured, according to sources. The President of the Republic, António José Seguro, asked for information “with every detail” about what happened during the early morning hours and “about what is happening with the detained protesters and all the injured people.”
Portugal’s minority center-right government faced demands to scrap plans that would make evictions easier and end rent caps on new leases, while Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro ruled out withdrawing the bill. Acampada Lisboa called a fresh rally against the police operation in the capital on Sunday afternoon and declared, “We will not be silenced,” in a statement posted on social media.