Protester's attorney will press charges against police action

O legal representative of the organization of the camp that since Saturday is in Praça D. João I, in Porto, told Lusa today that he will press charges against the police charge this morning, which left 35 injured light and two serious.

“This [the complaint] will be done, I have no doubt. We're collecting the evidence now. We already have proof, and we want to get the recordings that are in the square ", guaranteed Tiago Machado.

To the lawyer, who referred more clarifications and decisions of the organization to the concentration today, by 19:00, in the same place, police action is incomprehensible.

“ I was there, and what happened was something that I still can’t explain, because there was no act by the protesters that could give rise to this response,” he said.

Tiago Machado assured that he received verbal assurance from the PSP commander at the site that they could continue in the square, saying only “that he did not want noise”, to which they turned off the speaker.

The movement for housing that has protested in Porto since Saturday, with a camp that began that day, denounced a police charge this morning that caused injuries in 37 of the participants, two of whom were in serious condition.

“ Early on Thursday, at 2:56 a.m., police forces intervened in the camp for housing in Praça D. João I, in Porto, in an operation to put an end to the protest ", says the movement in statement.

According to the movement, among the wounded is a disabled person and several participants in the concentration were hospitalized.

The participants again installed tents during the night, which were removed by the police, after the mayor of Porto, Pedro Duarte, said on Wednesday that it would be “absolutely relentless with any attempt to place tents” in Praça D. João I.

The movement has six main claims: “below the law of rents; end of evictions; end of purchase of real estate by vulture funds; more public housing; recovery of vacant properties for housing; rent ceilings”.

In today’s note, the movement “extremely denounces the use of extreme, disproportionate and unjustified force during police intervention in the camp, which remained peaceful from the first moment, without ever inciting violence”, considering the “unacceptable” burden and asking for responsibilities.

The PSP has now confirmed an injured police officer and the presence of wounded among the demonstrators, without needing how many, attributing the reason for the intervention to “resistance behaviors”.

The mayor of Porto, Pedro Duarte, said today that the PSP saw itself “forced” to act, in the face of the protesters’ attitude, having regretted the incident.

On Wednesday, in a popular assembly, people voted to keep the protest and go back to sleep in tents, expressing the group’s desire to “continue growing and not only in Porto”, appealing to other cities, such as what is already called for Lisbon on Saturday.

On Monday, the Municipal Police withdrew about 50 tents that were armed in the square, substantiating the chamber that the camp improperly occupied the public space, causing the protesters to sleep in the open, keeping the protest even without it.