Livre proposes urgent hearing by Luís Neves and the director of PSP

O Livre proposed today the urgent hearing in Parliament of the Minister of Internal Administration and the National Director of the Public Security Police (PSP) to provide clarifications on police intervention in demonstrations for housing.

In the request, addressed to the chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, Paula Cardoso (PSD), and released by the party, Livre requests the urgent hearing of Luís Neves and Pedro Moura “on the police offensive in demonstrations for the right to housing in Lisbon and Porto”.

The Free supports the request with the “relevance of this matter to the public interest” and the “need to clarify the facts made public today” and wants to know “the means used in police interventions in Lisbon and Porto, the criteria that determined its use and the guarantees of respect for the fundamental rights of demonstrators”.

“ In view of the reports released about the use of batons, dogs and rubber bullets against protesters who participated in the demonstrations in Lisbon and Porto, it is important to clarify the circumstances in which police charges occurred and the need and proportionality of the means used ", say the MPs of the Free.

Noting that “these interventions took place in the context of protests for the right to housing, at a time when the housing crisis is a problem affecting the whole of society”, the party considers that “it is important to ensure that the performance of security forces respects fundamental rights, including the right of assembly and demonstration, and that the means used are compatible with the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality”.

The Public Security Police (PSP) dispersed today at dawn the demonstrations for the right to housing, batonada and using rubber bullets and dogs, in two actions simultaneously in Lisbon and Porto, after more than two hours of tension and orders for the dispersion and withdrawal of tents assembled by protesters, who did not comply with them claiming that the right to demonstration is protected by the Constitution.

According to the PSP, in Lisbon there are seven wounded and 31 detained for disobedience, but, in a statement published on social networks, the Lisbon camp mentions dozens of wounded.

“ Early today, October 25, dozens of protesters were brutally assaulted by the intervention police. Of these, more than 20 went to the Hospital de São José and many others were assisted on site by the care team of the Campada ", reads in the publication of the Campada de Lisboa on social network Instagram.

In Porto, and also according to the PSP, the intervention caused eight wounded, a number that the Campeda rises to 37, of which seven were in serious condition.