Camp or market? “I think protesters should go elsewhere”

Ricardo Sá Fernandes, lawyer of some protesters members of the Lisbon Camp, commented, this Sunday, the protest that takes place in Rossio. Starting by commenting on the opinion divisions of the popular assembly about continuing the protest in Rossio or changing places due to the Christmas market, the causist said that “as in all collectives there will certainly be different opinions”.

“ This movement has a very strong collective basis. They are very keen on their autonomy, independence, their choices. All that's going on is in my natural view. That there are different opinions is also natural and I look forward with great calmness and tranquility to what they decide.”, started by saying on the CNN antenna. 

Giving his opinion, as a citizen and lawyer of some of the demonstrators, Ricardo Sá Fernandes said that “these people had, have and will have the right to manifest themselves, in Rossio or elsewhere, with tents or without tents, as long as they respect fundamental factors: no violence, no disturbance of public order, at night there is silence and no violation of the rights of third parties”.

“And in this, these young people have been exemplary. To this day they have been worthy representatives of what must be a legitimate and responsible freedom of expression”, considered.

For the lawyer, at the moment, there is a problem and it is different in Lisbon and Porto. “ In Lisbon, it was already since January this year, scheduled this Christmas market and there were traders who had run and bet their business itinerary on this market. And those rights must also be respected”you remember. 

“ So what's on the table? That's what comes from the sentence, but even if it wasn't in the sentence, that's what would come from the reading of the law. How do these two rights of protesters and traders be compatible? Trying to see if it's possible to reconcile. If it is concluded that it is not possible, what I think the protesters should do is go elsewhere, in the immediate vicinity, with the same dignity to continue their struggle“, stressed.

According to Ricardo Sá Fernandes, it is an “indisputable reality”. “ Either it is possible to reconcile both in the same space or it is not. If so, you should try everything to make it happen. If it is not, as traders exercised this right before this exercise of the right of demonstration, in my opinion, another site must be sought”.

“If the negotiations run out, if it turns out it's actually impossible to maintain the two formations, I think Carlos Coins has the right to complain that they're leaving and I think they have to understand. As I will understand if they say they do not go out”he admitted it.

On the police charges, he says that the defense is possible by saying that they are “illegal”, because “they were not harming anyone’s rights”. “ Now, from the moment it is found that there is a conflict with other people who already had the pre-established right, if they do not leave, the argument that order is illegitimate cannot be used with the same degree of conviction or reason”, explained.

Remember that the Lisbon camp for housing decided Saturday to keep the tents in Rossio overnight, leaving open the hypothesis of demobilization today. The decision, taken in plenary of delegates by mandate of the popular assembly, arose following a proposal from Renata Cambra – the face of Rossio’s “legitimate sense” after a judicial decision – that the tents be removed tonight.

Renata Cambra suggested that the tents be removed and that by next Wednesday another place be decided for the camp. He also alerted a possible police entrance to the site to remove the tents. The proposal was not consensual and after much discussion ended up being referred to the plenary of delegates, a smaller group of campers, who voted to stay on site tonight.

Last Friday, the mayor of Lisbon today determined, in dispatch, the departure of the Lisbon Camp of Rossio renata Cambra denounced that the Municipal Police went to D. Pedro IV Square to remove the tents.

This decision was taken after PSP issued an opinion which gave the green light to the installation of the Christmas market in Rossio and which, according to the document, considered “that both initiatives are irreconcilable in the same place” – camped and market.

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 camps and remove the tents in Rossio, Lisbon, and in Praça D. João I, in Porto, has already resulted in dozens of arrests and dozens of wounded, motivating criticism from various quadrants.

The protesters demand, among other things, the reversal of the new rental law, a stop to housing purchase by real estate funds and “truely accessible” roofs to income.