Camped in Porto refuses to leave to give way to the Christmas market

A Popular Assembly of the Porto Camp by Housing today refused the possibility of leaving Praça D. João I, to give way to a Christmas market, as suggested in an email sent by the House of Porto.

The subject was one of the strong themes of today's meeting, with part of the speeches of those present refusing to leave the place of protest elected on October 10.

At the end of the assembly, the spokesman of the movement, Henrique Teixeira confirmed that in the email sent by the municipality of Porto to invite to the meeting, last Tuesday, there was a mention of “Christmas events”, but without detail.

“ We know that in past years they have been placed here, in space, from ring to market (...). There is this indication that certain things will be placed, yes”, he added, referring to the email.

Another problem is the arrival of rain, a situation that the leader of the movement minimized, remembering that the “thousands of people who are homeless in Portugal will continue to sleep on the street”, even with the arrival of rain.

“So I think this is a false premise. The fight for a dignified dwelling remains, rain, shine. Of course, we will continue our struggle, our peaceful and orderly resistance (...) there will be no fools wetting rain that will prevent us from doing anything”, Henry Teixeira assured.

Asked if the camp will not lose strength with the arrival of the rains, the spokesman said he believed that the “resilience of the people who have been resisting for almost a month will remain”.

The current protests against the housing crisis began in Porto on October 10 and have expanded to Lisbon, but have also motivated concentrations in other cities.

The PSP's action to disperse the campgrounds and remove the tents in Rossio, in Lisbon, and in Praça D. João I, in Porto, led to dozens of arrests and caused dozens of wounded, motivating criticism from various quadrants.

The Public Prosecutor has meanwhile asked the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of the 1974 rule which states that a demonstration has the time limit at 00:30.

The six initial proposals for national housing policies have now come to nine demands, after contributions from Housing Today and Ground of Struggles have been approved.

Thus, the first proposal is the reversal of the rental law, the second proposal “would become the end of evictions and demolitions without alternative housing”, the third one remains as the “travão to the acquisition of real estate by real estate funds”, the fourth one becomes “the increase of the public housing park in supported income”, rather than accessible, the fifth is the “public recovery of returned real estate”.

The sixth proposal is the implementation of a “home to real income”, the seventh the “imposition of pressure mechanisms to rent empty houses”, the eighth the “end of tax benefits to real estate speculation” and the ninth “prohibit and revoke local housing permits in housing properties”.