At least 27 people have been injured following the intervention of the Police at the camp set up in Rossio Square, in Lisbon, according to both police and health sources.
The medical staff at São José Hospital has had to attend to 24 people with injuries resulting from the police action, while at Santa Maria Hospital, three others with minor injuries have been admitted, according to information provided to the Lusa agency by spokespeople from both centers. The Public Security Police (PSP) has also counted a total of 27 injured protesters following the charges by its agents.
The incidents occurred in the early morning, on Sunday night, when law enforcement used batons and dogs to evict the camps defending the right to housing in Lisbon and Porto, after more than two hours of tension and repeated orders for those gathered to leave the place and remove the tents.
In Porto, in the main city of the north of the country, police charges and injuries were also recorded in D. João I Square. However, the PSP has only confirmed six affected individuals so far, pending a possible update of the data.
Protests against police intervention
After the eviction operation, thousands of people defending the right to housing have gathered again in Rossio Square, in Lisbon, to denounce what they have described as the "greatest attack on democracy since April 25," the date when Portuguese democracy was restored and the authoritarian regime of the Estado Novo --initiated by António de Oliveira Salazar and continued by Marcelo Caetano-- was brought to an end, which lasted 48 years in power.
"What happened is a disgrace. An attempt to repress those who defended the right to housing," stated one of the participants in the popular assembly of the Lisbon camp, which began in Rossio Square around 7:10 PM (local time). "To each blow, we will respond with more organization, and to each threat with more solidarity," proclaimed another protester in front of a nearly full square, while chanting over and over "April 25 forever, fascism never again."
At the concentration, families with babies and people of different ages have been seen, in addition to dozens of carnations, flags, and banners that equated the actions of the PSP with those of the International Police and State Defense or PIDE, the political police of the Salazarist dictatorship.
Europarliamentarians Ana Catarina Mendes, from the Socialist Party, and Catarina Martins, from the Left Bloc, have also traveled to Rossio, with Martins declaring to the media that the police intervention "was unjustifiable." "This protest, regardless of how many police referrals the government makes, will not be silenced," she assured.
The deputy Isabel Mendes Lopes, from the Livre party, has also been present in the square, denouncing that "the actions of the police have been unacceptable" and questioning the words of the Minister of Interior, Luís Neves, who defended that the actions of the PSP "aimed to restore public order."