Port camp joins the protest for couple threatened with eviction

A Port Camp Joined Housing Today Today, in Trinity Square, to denounce the housing problems in the city, while seeking a solution for a Campanha couple threatened with eviction three years ago.

The spokesman for the camp João Beauty explained to Lusa that the two organizations exist to “solve the problem of housing” and that is why they have “trying to promote dialogues and openings [...] and Housing Today has also participated in these dialogues”.

Asked about the reason the popular assembly passed today from Praça D. João I to the back of the House of Porto, in the Trinity Square, João Beauty replied that “it is exactly in solidarity for the eviction of Manuela and Rui”, remembering that they are “against the evictions without alternative housing”.

From Housing Today (HH), Francisco Pacheco explained to Lusa that the couple, “despite a lot of pressure, from the various contacts made since 2023, did not get an answer from the House”, despite being enrolled in the Domus (Housing and Maintenance Company of the Municipality of Porto).

The couple, living in an apartment in Campanhã, intends to have access to social housing, being that “the husband has 75% disability and it is a situation that is being accompanied by Social Security and is signaled, therefore, according to the Housing Law”, it has advanced.

Also according to HH’s manager, “the executive [of the city council] demonstrates that he speaks loudly to evict young people to protest for the right to housing, but then only gives silence to these families in situations of high precariousness, and that he has no answer”.

Francisco Pacheco also revealed that Rui is 63 years old and wife 61, living with a daughter.

Regarding the reason for the imminent departure from the apartment, HH’s manager explained that it is the landlord’s intention to sell the building, not by the fact that the rent “has always been paid”.

The case has moved to court, but according to the representative of the association there is “no answer even from the executive officer, who also has the authority to try to expedite the situation with local powers”.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Porto Municipal Assembly is taking place today, the couple has planned to intervene during the period open to the public.

HH has existed since 2021 and, according to Francisco Pacheco, adds “hundreds of complaints, most people who live in Porto”.

The current protests against the housing crisis began in Porto on October 10 and expanded to Lisbon, but they have also motivated concentrations in other cities, days after the parliamentary approval of the new rental law, now under discussion in the specialty.

On Sunday morning, PSP dispersed, with batonada and using dogs, the demonstrations in Lisbon and Porto, after more than two hours of tension and orders for people to leave and tents to be removed.

The protesters did not follow orders, invoking the constitutional right to the demonstration, and the PSP intervened.

According to the PSP, there were 33 injured and 33 detained for disobedience in both cities. In a statement, camp organizations reported dozens of wounded.

The protesters demand the reversal of the new rental law, the end of demolitions and evictions without an alternative housing, a stop to 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.