Portuguese police use batons to clear housing protest camps

Portuguese police moved in against protest camps in Lisbon and Porto in the early hours of Sunday to clear tents set up by housing demonstrators. Euronews and the Portugal Resident both reported that officers cleared the camps overnight, resulting in injuries and arrests. Police struck demonstrators with batons in both cities during the operations, Euronews reported. [1][2]

In a social media statement cited by Euronews, police stated that officers intervened early in the morning to end illegal encampments. Euronews reported that demonstrators chanted that the response smelled like a dictatorship while officers dismantled the tents. [1]

The action follows earlier demonstrations across Portugal regarding living costs. As FTMQ News reported earlier, police forcibly cleared a tent encampment in Rossio square in Lisbon on Tuesday, after which thousands of demonstrators gathered to protest rising housing costs. Protesters at the time voted at a public assembly to return and pitch their tents again. Demonstrators oppose government proposals that would ease caps on annual rent increases. [5]

Earlier protests organized by the group You cannot live like this anymore also brought thousands of people to Lisbon and Porto to march over low wages and housing costs, as FTMQ News reported previously. Lisbon is the capital and most populous city of Portugal, located on the River Tagus. [3][6]