More than fifty people have been injured and 31 have been arrested after the eviction of the camps for the right to housing set up in Lisbon and Porto, in a large police operation backed by the authorities, who consider these gatherings "illegal".
The organizers of the protest have reported 50 injured, 20 in Pedro IV square in Lisbon and 30 in John I square in Porto, while the Police have only confirmed eleven, five in the capital and six in the northern city, three of them agents. "One of the police officers was injured by a dog of a protester in Lisbon," the Police themselves explained.
The security forces had reiterated on several occasions that they classified the camps as "illegal" and that, starting at 00:30 (local time) this Sunday, they had orders to remove them. At the same time, they insisted that the protesters could remain in the area, but without the camping structures.
Regarding the arrests, 31 detentions have been counted for disobedience, 25 in Lisbon and six in Porto. During the intervention, 171 tents were also seized, 117 in the capital and 54 in the port city.
In Lisbon, about twenty people have been treated at the Hospital de San José. "I have directly seen twenty injured (in emergencies). I was assaulted in a police charge. There were people lying on the ground, with atrocious violence," recounted a witness to the action, Mariana Carneiro, quoted by the newspaper "Público".
"In front of me, there was a young man who was taking blows everywhere, also to the head. I thought they were going to kill him, that they were going to kill him," she added.
The camp itself had set up a health assistance team in the nearby Figueira square, where first aid was provided to several protesters before the arrival of the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM).
"There has been no dialogue. The dialogue has been with batons, shields, violence, and pushes. Whoever they had in front of them: woman, man, young, old, stronger, thinner, it didn't matter," Carneiro denounced at 8:00 AM. "Now I am going home with the certainty that in this country the rulers have no respect for the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic," she concluded.
In Porto, the agents of the Special Police Unit resorted to the use of police dogs, as in Lisbon, and also employed tasers. The operation was carried out in a particularly swift manner, with the forces advancing with their shields to evict those gathered in the square.
"Restoration of legality" and institutional response
The Portuguese police authorities have justified the operation as an intervention "guided by the principles of legality, proportionality, adequacy, and necessity" aimed at the "restoration of legality after the occupation of public spaces."
"This police action occurs in a sequence of maintaining demonstrations over time and after damage to public heritage has been recorded and the need to remove camping structures installed without the necessary legal authorization and under conditions contrary to applicable legislation," they point out.
The Police admit that the protests were communicated to the competent authorities, but emphasize that "the exercise of the right to protest does not exempt compliance with other legal provisions," among them the "time limit established for the conditions of use and occupation of public space."
In this regard, they maintain that all avenues were exhausted for participants to dismantle the tents on their own initiative, but that "police intervention became necessary" due to "the non-compliance with the transmitted guidelines." "The Police respects and guarantees the exercise of the right to assembly and protest, enshrined at the constitutional level," they emphasize, although they remind that "the rights of other citizens must also be preserved." At the same time, they value the "civic" and "responsible" attitude of those who marched on Saturday in various cities across the country.
The tension in the streets —with 55 detained in the eviction of the first camp in Lisbon last Tuesday and nearly 40 injured after a police charge in Porto on October 15— has increased pressure on institutions to find political solutions to the sharp rise in the cost of living.
In light of this situation, the president of Portugal, António José Seguro, has decided to summon on October 29 all parties with parliamentary representation. It will be the first round of contacts of this kind since he assumed the Head of State in March, with the aim of promoting a large political agreement that allows for the consensus on urgent and long-term measures.
"A specific and human problem demands equally specific and human responses," recently defended the Portuguese president, who has asked political forces to exchange proposals to find points of agreement that alleviate the housing emergency.