Campsite of Lisbon accepts invitation of António José Seguro for meeting

A popular assembly of the Lisbon Camp today approved accept the invitation to a meeting with the President of the Republic, António José Seguro.

The proposal was approved by the large majority of demonstrators who participated in the 17th popular assembly, which is taking place tonight in Rossio in the presence of a less visible police device than in previous nights.

According to the organization of the Lisbon Camp, the Civil House of the President of the Republic issued on Sunday an invitation to the movement for a meeting.

Rather, the Camp promoted a popular karaoke moment, to commemorate the court’s decision on an action brought by a protester, having heard the Square singing songs such as “Wind Trove Passing” or “The Cantiga is a Gun”.

The Lisbon Administrative Court held, on Sunday, that the limit of 00:30 for demonstrations is not “absolute and automatic”, allowing a protester to remain at dawn in Rossio, in Lisbon, with a tent.

According to the sentence, to which Lusa had access today, the protest may continue until November 24, 2026, the date scheduled for the final vote of the State Budget for 2027, including between 12:30 and 6:30, and will have to be articulated with the Christmas Market scheduled for Praça D. Pedro IV, commonly designated Rossio.

The Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) stressed that the administrative court’s decision on housing protests does not appreciate the legality of police interventions and does not recognise the right to tents in public space.

In a statement, the ministry led by Luís Neves considered that the decision known today “is limited to an individual and concrete situation, limited to the applicant’s request”, which is, in this case, Renata Cambra.

The Ministry also considers that the judicial decision safeguards police interventions in situations of danger.

Since October 10, demonstrations for the right to housing have taken place in the country, demanding the reversal of the new rental law, the end of demolitions and evictions without an alternative housing, a brake on the purchase of housing by real estate funds, the increase in public housing, the recovery of vacant buildings for housing purposes and ceilings “truely accessible” to income.

In the early hours of Sunday, the PSP again dispersed the camped by the right to housing in Rossio, in Lisbon, and in Praça D. João I, in Porto, removing about 100 tents.

The intervention culminated in police charges and throwing objects, causing more than two dozen wounded between demonstrators and police.

The police action motivated a request for clarification from the President of the Republic, António José Seguro, the Government and the Ombudsman, and the announcement of a criminal complaint, by a lawyer, for abuse of power against the Minister of the Internal Administration and the director of the PSP.