On Sunday afternoon, thousands of people once again occupied the squares of Joao I, in Oporto, and of Pedro IV, in Lisbon, scene hours earlier of a violent eviction of the encampments for the right to housing, dismantled at dawn in a controversial police operation.
In Oporto, those gathered chanted slogans and traditional songs in response to the action of the security forces. "If they detain me for singing I will not silence my throat. I am like a little bird that even in the cage sings," chanted the attendees at the Oporto gathering, citing the Portuguese traditional song 'If You Go to Alentejo'. They also chanted the song 'The Ant on the Road' by José Afonso.
After the chants, an open assembly began to define the movement's next steps, in which it was mainly debated whether to reinstall the encampment and whether to accept the invitation from the Oporto City Council to hold a meeting next Tuesday, an offer endorsed by the conservative mayor Pedro Duarte. Among the protesters, banners were displayed with messages such as "No to violence, yes to dialogue" or "Put me against the wall for asking for housing".
The spokespeople for the encampment attacked the Police's action, questioning the severity of the operation. From the encampment organization they denounced the police intervention. "There is no justification for the Government to react like this," affirmed Leonor Mire, who also highlighted the participation of "people of various generations" in the latest assembly.
In parallel, in the Pedro IV square, also known as Rossio square, in Lisbon, the camp held its 16th assembly, organized with an open microphone and without a formal voting system. "The Lisbon encampment resists once again," highlighted one of the encampment's spokespeople, who confirmed "30 injured people, ten hospitalized and six detained" from among the "peaceful protesters who are fighting for the right to housing".
In her intervention, the spokesperson defended the peaceful nature of the protest against the accusations of disturbances. "They can call us troublemakers (...), but this is a debate about housing," she added before criticizing the "absurd and cruel" rental law. Among its main demands are the imposition of rent caps, the halt of evictions, the increase in the public housing stock, and the limitation of the activity of vulture funds in the real estate market.