Anyone imagining that this morning’s scenes of violence were an end to ‘right to housing protests’ will be thinking again following news that protesters are set to return to the squares of Lisbon and Porto at rallies scheduled for later this afternoon and early evening.
On Instagram, Acampada de Lisboa is calling for a protest under the slogan “More homes, fewer batons!” today at 5pm in Praça D. Pedro IV, where only hours ago a police charge – involving batons, rubber bullets and dogs – left dozens people injured and a number of arrests.
“Join us!”, urges the call to action, assuring that “the Acampada has survived and is holding out” and that “brutal police violence (…) will not be tolerated”.
“With every blow of the baton, more organisation. With every threat, more solidarity”, the post reads.
In the same post, the Lisbon Camp denounces the “State violence” orchestrated by the government, “used to intimidate, silence and demobilise the people who want to fight for their rights”.
The police crackdown on demonstrators gathering in the squares of Lisbon and Porto earlier today “is not an isolated incident of excessive force; it is the repression of a state that protects property whilst attacking those who fight for the right to housing”, says the post, warning that “fascism” is spreading.
In Porto, Catarina dos Santos, spokesperson for Acampada, assured journalists early this morning, following the police intervention, that they would gather again, as usual, at 7pm: “No one is leaving the square until our demands are heard,”she said.
In a post also shared on Instagram, and featuring photographs and videos of the police charge against demonstrators gathered in Praça D. João I, the Porto Camp denounces what it considers to be “the excessive use of force”, which “was not a misinterpretation of the law, but a conscious choice by security forces”.
Echoing the commitment made in Lisbon, the same message was repeated: “For every blow with a baton, more mutual support and more organisation. This isn’t over.”
Source: RTP
Natasha Donn
Journalist for the Portugal Resident.