More than a hundred people have been injured and thirteen have been arrested, among them two members of Madres por la Acampada, during the new police eviction operation against the housing encampments carried out at dawn in Lisbon and Oporto. Ten of the injured have had to be taken to hospital centers.
The activists had once again set up the tents after Saturday’s protests against the rent bill which, according to their criticism, would make evictions easier and eliminate limits on new lease contracts.
Once night had fallen, the Police charged simultaneously in Pedro IV square, in Lisbon, and in Joao I square, in Oporto, which caused scenes of panic and running through the streets of the center of both cities.
Among the injured are thirteen officers, as police spokesperson Sérgio Soares has reported. Ten belong to the riot police units and the other three are plainclothes police who were identified by the demonstrators. A fourth plainclothes officer made "passive use of his" firearm as a "deterrent means." Soares has also detailed that 99 encampment structures have been removed: 69 in Lisbon and 30 in Oporto.
After a first eviction notice, around 4:00 in the morning, the encamped chose to remain in the squares and organized human chains of protection. In Lisbon, four deputies took the front: Fabian Figueiredo, of the Left Bloc, and Isabel Mendes Lopes, Jorge Pinto and Paulo Muacho, of Livre.
Soon after, the riot police in charge of carrying out the eviction made their presence felt. They closed all exits from the square except one and advanced hitting demonstrators and also some journalists. At 5:10 the operation had already concluded. Mendes Lopes has told the public broadcaster RTP that there are injured people "with their heads split open" after an "absurd and unjustifiable situation in a democratic country like Portugal".
In Oporto the operation developed in a very similar manner, pushing the activists toward the Avenida de los Aliados to completely empty Joao I square, despite slogans such as "The people united will never be defeated!".
The lawyer for the Oporto encampment, Tiago Machado, has indicated that seven arrests have been made, among them those of two women from the Madres por la Acampada movement who "were sitting in the front row singing".
Condemnation of police action and political consequences
The organizations promoting the encampments have announced that they will file criminal complaints against the Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, and against the national director of the Police, Coelho de Moura.
"The only perpetrators of crimes in these circumstances are the Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, and the national director of the PSP, Coelho de Moura," said the lawyer for the Lisbon encampment, Ricardo Sá Fernandes, in statements to the Portuguese press.
Sá Fernandes has insisted that the detainees "have not committed any crime" because the dispersal order "is an illegitimate order." "It has been an abuse of power. It is absolutely intolerable that 50 years after April 25 we have to witness an action worthy of the times before April 25," he pointed out, alluding to the period of the military dictatorship that lasted until 1974, when the well-known Carnation Revolution of April 25 opened the door to the return of democracy in Portugal.
The President of the Republic, António José Seguro, has demanded information "in full detail" about what happened during the early morning hours and "about what is happening with the detained protesters and all the injured people".
Tension continues to rise in the country while Parliament discusses the Budget for 2027, a debate marked by growing social unrest, fueled by the riots and police charges of recent days.