Thousands rallied in Lisbon and other Portuguese cities on Tuesday evening, hours after police dismantled housing protest camps at dawn and arrested 55 people.
Demonstrators in Portugal are protesting soaring housing costs, seeking to align themselves with similar actions in neighbouring Spain, where tents have been set up in central Madrid for weeks.
The weekend violence that flared in France on the sidelines of peaceful cost-of-living protests has raised alarm that the mayhem could spread to other countries with similar grievances.
In Lisbon, thousands gathered in the central Rossio square, where protesters voted by a show of hands to re-establish their tent camp from Wednesday.
“They forced me onto the streets to shout”, read one placard. Others declared: “Lisbon is not for sale”.
Earlier Tuesday, law enforcement authorities cleared tent camps in Lisbon and Porto, seizing 228 camping structures.
As officers moved in, protesters formed a human chain before clashes broke out, according to footage broadcast by local television stations.
Police arrested 55 people during the operation and said the camps were no longer legal.
“The individuals taken into custody were brought to police facilities and will be brought before the competent judicial authority as soon as possible,” the police said in a statement.
The protesters accuse the government of failing to act to tackle Portugal’s housing crisis, and trying to push through rental market reforms that will make eviction easier.
Demonstrations were also held Tuesday evening in Porto and several other cities.
In Porto, where the movement began earlier this month, demonstrators dismantled their camp themselves in the face of threats of a police intervention.
The nearly four weeks of protests in Spain that erupted after the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her lifelong home led to the calling of a snap general election for November 29.
Source: AFP