A total of 32 localities in Portugal have hosted this Saturday gatherings and marches in defense of the right to housing, promoted by the Casa Para Vivir platform, which calls for the withdrawal of the reform of the New Urban Tenancy Regime currently being processed in the Portuguese Parliament.
The largest event has taken place in Lisbon, where the main column set out from Alameda Don Afonso Henriques heading for Martim Moniz. Along the route, flags of the Vida Justa movement and of the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP) were seen, among other social groups.
During the mobilization, chants were heard such as "La casa es para vivir, no para especular", "Queremos techo, queremos suelo" or "Montenegro, queremos un buen salario y una casa para vivir", referring to the conservative prime minister, Luís Montenegro.
At the protests, groups from the Acampada de Lisboa and the Acampada de Oporto have also taken part, which in the past few weeks have set up camps in the heart of both cities despite repeated evictions. In the march, the songs "Agora que estamos juntas" and "J'ai deux passions" also played, hymns present in previous protests in France.
"Portugal has taken to the streets. The cost of housing is unbearable," Jorge Filho, a member of the Puerta a Puerta movement, has denounced in statements to "Diário de Notícias". "With wages, you can’t pay what it costs to get a house. It has reached a point where we need to take to the streets to demand our rights," he emphasized.
In the Lisbon demonstration, criticism has also been directed at the response considered "exaggerated" by the Police to the camps and protests. "They were peaceful demonstrations, with families. For example, I came with my daughter," the participant Raquel Fortuna reported, who is calling for the security forces to focus on protecting those who are demonstrating.
The president of the Associação de Inquilinos Lisboetas (AIL), António Machados, has also insisted on the urgency of putting vacant homes to use, "more than 300,000", a measure that, in his view, "would help solve the problem very quickly".