Port House says it is “absolutely ruthless” with tents

A Port House will be “absolutely relentless with any attempt to place tents” in D. João I Square, where Saturday began a camp to protest the housing crisis, said the president today.

“ It is clear that D. João I Square is not a campsite, and will not become a campsite. We will be absolutely ruthless with any attempt to place tents in that area,” said the mayor, elected by the PSD/CDS/IL coalition.

Pedro Duarte, who left several criticisms to the protesters, spoke on the margins of the conference Fábrica 2030, in Porto, about the removal of tents, on Monday, in which he stayed overnight those protesting for the right to housing, after a demonstration on Saturday about the cost of living.

The mayor stressed that, in his view, “the right to demonstration is not at stake”, greeting Porto as “the city of Liberty” in a democratic society where “even nonsense is entitled to express itself”, but “within rules”.

“We do not live in an anarchic regime, and our right to manifestation cannot shock the freedom of everyone else in the city. ... The law of Portugal is very clear, and says that demonstrations cannot exceed a certain period, usually at 00:30 ", said.

Pedro Duarte criticized the way the municipal services, including the Municipal Police, have been treated, with the promise of the activists to remove tents without complying for several hours, but did not want to “heave spirits” because of “a part of the organizer”.

“ I am not saying that it is all those who manifest themselves, but some leaders of all these kinds of movements. Moreover, they do not hide, in some statements they have already made, from relations and even international links to other forces, which, in fact, have very little to do with the national problem and nothing to do, I would say, with the problem of housing in Porto ", lamented.

Asked by journalists about a request made to the House to stay on site until Tuesday, he considered it “slow” and with “formal flaws”, but preferred to strengthen people’s right to “say what they think, even if it is nonsense”.

Integrating the “tolerance” in municipal action, he defended, compliance with the rules is essential for the demonstrations.

“There is a widespread housing crisis in most of Europe, but it feels in the country and feels also in Porto. We feel it every day. I must say that we work every day, particularly the services of the House, work very intensively to solve real housing problems and that, forgive me to say, are very different from those we hear in some clips and in some statements of who is in the square D. João I ", shot.

As for the protesters, he added that, unlike “people facing very concrete housing problems in the city”, “it’s a little different there”, including a “algam” of things “parallel and absolutely side to the housing problem”.

“There are many people in the House who are working every day, while others are demonstrating. Everyone is entitled to this, but we prefer to be on the side of those who work than we are exactly camping ", it has.

The mayor also stressed that Porto “is by far the county of the country where there is more public housing”, welcoming “the two largest accessible housing projects developed in the country, the so-called ‘build to rent’, a public-private partnership model.

About 50 protesters spent the night in the square, from Monday to Tuesday, ensuring that the protest will continue, with popular assemblies and activities during the day to mobilize the accession.

A spokesman said that the municipality authorized, however, the resettlement of the tents within about 48 hours and explained that the withdrawal on Monday was justified with legal issues related to the occupation of public space without notice and the installation of infrastructure.

The protest should be extended indefinitely, but decisions will be taken in a meeting scheduled for 19:00 today on the spot.

On the morning of Monday, the Municipal Police withdrew the about 50 tents that were armed in that square.

On Monday, the House assured that the camp in protest against housing prices was unduly occupying public space, which is why it was removed by the authorities.

In a statement, the municipality indicated that “the occupation of Praça D. João I through the installation of a camp was evaluated by the competent authorities and security forces, who should act in accordance with the law, not allowing the illegal occupation and degradation of the public space”.