Braga joins in solidarity with campsites of Lisbon and Porto

Cerca of two hundred people, mostly young people and students of the University of Minho, gathered today in the center of Braga in solidarity with the campsites of Lisbon and Porto and in defense of “a better life”.

“There were no promoters or organizers in the background. It was something spontaneous, it came from the popular will, it began to circulate in [social] networks, it happened in several cities also, in the heat of the events this morning, in Porto and in Lisbon and the brutal police force that happened. It is a form of solidarity that we find and the staff joined here”, explained Teresa Amorim, spokesman for the concentration, to the Lusa agency.

The initiative took place in Praça da República, between 19:00 and about 20:30, with the protesters singing Grândola Vila Morena, a theme symbol of April 25, under the eyes of four PSP agents, who were a few meters away.

“ We have many young people here, many students from the University of Minho who also suffer from lack of housing and lack of public and accessible residences. Most of the students at the University of Minho are displaced students who have nowhere else to go, except for university residences ", stressed Teresa Amorim.

This spokesman noticed that on Wednesday, from 18:30, there will be a new concentration, in the same place, more organized, called the People's Assembly, but without tents.

“A little like what has happened in Porto and Lisbon, and then it will be to talk another way, to see people’s emotions, what we feel, what we want for Braga, if we want to do more Popular Assemblies. Basically it is an appeal to occupy the public space, which is a constitutional right that is our ", detailed.

For the 28-year-old spokesman, what is happening in Portugal is across many countries.

“Portugal is no exception. It's a miserable life that we've seen, from our family, from friends, and that's why it's a fight for everyone and why we're here. We are not selfish, we are here because we really want a good life for all people”, Teresa Amorim assumed.

The current protests for the right to housing and the cost of living in Portugal began in the city of Porto, on the 10th of this month, with about 1,500 protestors joining in Praça D. João I and staying overnight in camping tents.

On that day, the civic platform “Can’t live like this anymore” also promoted protests in Aveiro, Braga and Lisbon demanding control of the prices of essential goods and fuels, taxes on the extraordinary profits of large companies in the banking, energy and distribution sector and measures that respond to the housing crisis.

On the 15th, the protest movement in Porto, already in the form of a camp, denounced a violent police charge during the early hours that caused injuries in 39 of the participants, two of whom were in a serious state, and in a police officer, and at night about 3,000 people joined the initial protesters, but eventually dispersed.

The tents returned to the site on Saturday and the camp spread that day to the city of Lisbon. Early this morning, while the protest of the northern city was ended before the warnings of police intervention, the authorities removed dozens of tents in the capital and detained 55 people for disobedience, however released and will be heard on Wednesday by a judge.