Protesters return to D. João I Square for popular assembly

Mannifesting that since Saturday protest the housing crisis in Praça D. João I, in Porto, today returned to this place after having brought the protest to the door of the Porto Chamber, during the concentration after police charge this morning.

At 8:40 p.m., hundreds of protesters left Praça D. João I, where a camp was set up on Saturday to occupy part of Rua Passos Manuel, following the streets surrounding the square to the door of the autarchy building, where they climbed the ramp to the door and occupied the steps next to a tourist sign.

There they expressed and sang songs, among shouts of “the street is ours” and “Oporto is ours”, before starting the journey back.

The demonstration, which gathers about 2,500 people, then returned to the square where they have been since Saturday, to a popular assembly where they plan to deliberate on if they move from camp to camp, they remain, or return to tents.

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 property by vulture funds; more public housing; recovery of vacant buildings for housing; rent ceilings”.

In today’s note, the movement “extremely denounces the use of extreme, disproportionate and unjustified force during the police intervention in the camp, which has remained peaceful from the first moment, without ever inciting violence”, considering the “unacceptable” burden and asking for responsibilities.

The PSP has in the meantime 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 behaviours'.

The mayor of Porto said today that the PSP saw itself "forced" to act, in the face of the protesters' attitude, and regretted the incident.

On Wednesday, in a popular assembly, people voted to keep protesting and to go back to sleep in tents, expressing the group’s desire to “continue growing and not just 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.