Provider asks PSP information on police load in Lisbon and Porto

A ombudsman asked the PSP, as a matter of urgency, for information about the police load on Sunday morning about protesters who camped in Praça D. Pedro IV, in Lisbon, and in Praça D. João I, in Porto.

In a statement released today on its ‘site’, the institution said that the Ombudsman, Luísa Neto, requested “with urgency the National Directorate of the Public Security Police (...) information and documents on police operations initiated around 2:00 a.m. on October 25 (Sunday morning) (...) in the context of demonstrations for the right to housing”.

The provider had already asked the same police force, on October 16, information urgently on the police load on protesters who camped in D. João I Square, in Porto, for the right to housing, in the early morning of October 15th and reminded, in the statement released today, that the “time of response” is still ongoing.

“As in this request (...) the PSP has 10 working days to respond”, the provider also detailed.

“ Having received these elements, the Ombudsman will examine the compatibility of interventions with the right of assembly and demonstration, enshrined in Article 45 of the Constitution, recalling, again, that on the State – including the security forces – it is the duty to guarantee its free exercise in the framework of Decree-Law No 406/74, of August 29”, can be read in the same note.

The Internal Administration General Inspection (IAI) opened a process following police interventions that took place early on Sunday in Lisbon and Porto.

In a reply sent to Lusa today, IGAI explained that “following the news and images publicly disclosed, the opening of administrative proceedings for the clearance of circumstances” of the two police interventions, of which they were injured, was determined.

The objective of this process will be the “evaluation of the procedures adopted”, IGAI said.

The entity that monitors the activity of the police added that it awaits the information requested to the national direction of the PSP and the prosecutor about the police intervention that took place on October 15 and that, in addition to the process opened by IGAI, also motivated the opening of an inquiry by the Public Prosecutor.

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 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.

The leftist parties criticized the police intervention, asking for clarification from the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, and the intervention of the President of the Republic, António José Seguro. Only the PSD, the government party, defended the police's actions.