More than 300 people returned to D. João I Square in Porto in protest

A Praça D. João I, in Porto, today received more than 300 people in the continuation of the protest of the Camp, with a new popular assembly and the mark of resistance in the struggle for the right to housing.

On a new day of protest, many of those who had been at the end of the afternoon today at the demonstration called by the platform Casa para Viver, in the Trinity Square, descended the few meters that distance from the square D. João I and rejoined in popular assembly.

Without visible police presence, the assembly commented on the housing crisis and voted on questions concerning the safety of demonstrators if, and when, they decide to stay overnight in the square.

By 10:00 p.m., only a few dozen people stayed on site.

In statements to journalists, Leonor Figueiredo explained that the vote was for the resistance of “stay in the square”, with notice of demonstration convened until December 31.

“ We will continue to be here every day, until when we can, people stay in the square after the assemblies, we will all have dinner together and will continue to be so until the people decide that it is no longer so,” Leonor Figueiredo said.

As for the invitation to meet with the mayor of Porto, Pedro Duarte, the protesters insisted on returning the invitation to the mayor, asking him to go to the square to talk openly.

Tonight the popular canteen, which offered dinner to dozens of people, including some homeless people who spend the night in the vicinity of Praça D. João I, is also running again.

During the morning of Sunday, PSP dispersed, with batonada and using dogs, the demonstrations for the right to housing in Lisbon and Porto, after more than two hours of tension and orders for people to leave and tents to be removed.

The demonstrators did not follow orders, invoking the constitutional right to the demonstration.

According to the PSP, there were 33 injured and 33 detained for disobedience. In a statement, camp organizations reported dozens of wounded.

The Internal Administration Inspectorate (IGAI) opened a process following police interventions that took place on Sunday morning in Lisbon and Porto. Also the ombudsman asked the PSP, urgently, information about the police load on Sunday morning about the protesters.

The leftist parties criticized police intervention and asked the Prime Minister for clarification and the intervention of the President of the Republic.

The Head of State today called for dialogue on housing “and never violence”, stating that he did not like the images he saw, but that he awaits the results of the police investigations on protesters.

The protesters demand the reversal of the new rental law, the end of demolitions and evictions without an alternative housing, a stop to the purchase of housing by real estate funds, the increase in public housing, the recovery of vacant buildings for housing purposes and ceilings “truely accessible” to income.