“It is not with violence that will crush the struggle for the right to housing”

Nthe Lisbon Camp since the first day, Mariana Carneiro says she has been beaten twice by the police, but promises to continue on the street fighting for the right to housing, as today in front of the parliament, refusing subpoenas and threats.

“ They can be absolutely sure that it is not with intimidation, it is not with threat and it is not with atrocious violence that reminds the dictatorship, it is not so that they will crush our struggle that is legitimate and that represents the overwhelming majority of the population in this country that cannot have access to a dignified house to live ", said Mariana Carneiro, in statements to Lusa.

The protester, one of the thousands that have filled the broad in front of the Assembly of the Republic in Lisbon since the end of the afternoon, and the adjacent streets, told Lusa that she has been part of the Camp of Lisbon since the first day, considering that it is “a fight that is worthy, that is legitimate, that is legal and that is a constitutional right”.

“It is already more than 10 days of struggle,” he noted, insisting that protesters for the right to housing have been exercising the “constitutional right of freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration”, but at the same time they have been “faced with atrocious violence” by police authorities.

“ I, by the way, was assaulted in both police charges. At first they broke my tooth, they opened my lip, in the second police charge I took batonadas and I was thrown to the ground, so that's why my knee was completely bandaged, it was extreme violence, without any justification ", stressed.

For this reason, he continued, it is necessary to “clean up cabal responsibilities”, both on the part of the police forces that attacked the protesters, but also on “who sent them, who threw them out to face the peaceful, orderly and legitimate demonstrators with an armed intervention force to the teeth, the batonada, with rubber bullets”.

“ This is unbelievable, remembers other times, this is a very serious precedent ", insisted, calling for the continuation of protests on the street.

“ We have to continue the mobilizations, the mobilizations have to grow, we are on the street, this is not how they will crush our convictions ", said.

With posters and shouting slogans, many citizens responded to the mobilization for today, which brings together the movement that organized the Lisbon Camp, in Rossio, and the Casa Para Viver platform.

Contrary to what has been observed in the concentrations held in the square of Rossio, organized by the Camp of Lisbon and mostly young people, today at the Assembly of the Republic there was more age diversity and also less props associated with causes such as Palestine.

The demonstration takes place on the day the general discussion of the proposal of the State Budget Government for 2027 (OE2027) began in parliament.

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 the police intervention and asked for clarification from the Prime Minister and the intervention of the President of the Republic, António José Seguro.

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.