The coordinator of BE, José Manuel Pureza, said that the eviction law will be defeated, as well as the Labor Law, in statements made during a demonstration in Porto.
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15/10/2026
by
Lusa
O coordinator of BE, José Manuel Pureza, said today that, as the Labor Law was defeated, the urban lease law, which since Saturday is the motto of a demonstration in Porto, will not pass.
“ Defeating the labour package was impossible and the labour package was defeated. The law of evictions will also be defeated”, said the bloquist leader minutes after joining the demonstration that takes place in Praça D. João I, in Porto, and that by 8:00 p.m., gathered more than two thousand people.
About the protest of the young people, who claim better access to housing, Purity pointed out that what is “in question is a reaction against inaction in respect for the right to people’s housing”, accusing those who want to “draw to discuss other things”.
“What people demand that we discuss is the right to housing for all people. Who has an income from the house that is more and more expensive. Who has a benefit to the bank that is increasingly exhausting from the family budget. That is what we are discussing here”, stressed the bloquist leader.
Underlining that the “people have always expressed themselves peacefully”, he criticized those who “do not understand this and want to use the law of the staff against those who manifest themselves peacefully” fact that, he pointed out, “says a lot about their conscience for having approved a law, the PSD, the CDS, the Enough, which facilitates evictions, which increases rents unlimitedly”.
Purity, however, left a warning by stating that it is “very important that the demonstrations, the great mobilizations that have already happened and that will continue to happen, be peaceful mobilizations”, emphasizing that this is what “will allow us to discuss what is truly important, which is the right to people’s housing”.
“ There can be nothing that gives bonuses to anyone who doesn't want us to discuss the right to housing. We really want to discuss the right to housing, we really want to ensure that the large mobilizations are a form of pressure so that the law on evictions, which was recently passed in Parliament, is defeated and will not tell us that it is impossible,” he said.
Asked whether the demonstration, days on end, of the youth of the housing movement is politicized, José Manuel Pureza replied that “when a fundamental right like the right to housing is not respected over years and years and years by successive governments, when this government passes in Parliament a law that is a law that facilitates evictions and facilitates the increase of income, this is all political choices”.
The movement for housing that has protested in Porto today denounced a police charge this morning, which caused injuries in 39 of the participants, two of whom were in serious condition.
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 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 said today that the PSP saw itself “forced” to act, in the face of the protesters’ attitude, and lamented 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.