Port. Protesters stay overnight in D. John I Square after removing tents

Oprotesters for the right to housing who had been camped since Saturday in the square of D. João I, in Porto, whose tents were removed this morning by police forces, decided that they will spend the night in this space.

The decision was taken today, at 9:05 p.m., during an assembly that began at 7:30 p.m., when they were “about 200 people” in the square of D. João I, according to PSP data on site.

In that square in the center of Porto they were from Saturday and until the beginning of the morning of today about 60 tents mounted in a protest against the increase in the cost of living, the prices of housing, the increase in the cost of fuel and the “increase in the difficulty of living that only lets survive”.

By 6:30, the Municipal Police removed the tents from the site, arguing that they were occupying the public space and that they were not allowed to do so.

According to the Porto City Council, in a statement, that camp was unduly occupying public space, which is why it was removed by the authorities.

The autarchy presided by Pedro Duarte (PSD/CDS/IL) stated that “the occupation of Praça D. João I through the installation of a camp was evaluated by the competent authorities and security forces, who must act in accordance with the law, not allowing illegal occupation and degradation of the public space”.

“ In this sense, this morning, a joint action took place between PSP, the Municipal Police and Porto Ambiente [municipal company], to remove the objects that unduly occupied the public space of Praça D. João I”, justified the municipality.

On Saturday, about 1,500 people were protesting in Porto against rising living and housing costs.

The concentration was organized by the platform “Can’t live like this anymore”, which promoted protests also in cities like Aveiro, Braga and Lisbon.