Residents of Belém, in Lisbon, contest the closing of Loja dos CTT

Um group of residents of the parish of Belém, in Lisbon, hold from 18:00 today a vigil to contest the closure, on 30 October, of the Shop dos CTT located in the premises of the Palace of Belém.

The Shop dos CTT, located in Afonso de Albuquerque Square, closed on October 30, with customers being able to use the Post Office of Belém, on Rua Bartolomeu Dias.

In a message published on social network Facebook, the Junta de Freguesia de Belém indicates, citing information from the company, that “the only services that will not be performed in this new post (which returns to the area where, a few years ago, it had been closed) will be the financial ones, linked to Banco CTT, which can continue to be done on Avenida da Ilha da Madeira”.

The closing of the Lodge is contested by residents, who already have a public petition to the Presidency of the Republic, to request the repeal of the decision and which already has more than 200 signatures.

Maria José Garrido, one of the residents of the parish, told Lusa that the residents were “caught by surprise by the closure, which was marked by a total lack of communication with the populations”.

For customers, the abrupt closure of the shop is “totally unjustified from the point of view of providing a service of undeniable public interest and unacceptable from the point of view of social and territorial cohesion of the parish”.

“ The information available gives the Presidency of the Republic the decision not to renew the lease of the space available on the property of Rua de Belém and affection to the CTT (services that have been there for almost a century)”, according to residents.

“The store is next to the Presidency Museum and was an important place for the area,” he said.

Residents consider that “without the CTT Shop, that is, without the postal services that are provided there, the lower part of the parish is socially poorer and weaker from a functional point of view”.

“ We highlight the search for the postal services provided by this Shop CTT, with an area of influence on the whole low area of Freguesia, area with an important population mass, central zone from the point of view of trade, restoration and other services, to which added the bulky flow of tourists that circulates there ", refer.

For this reason, residents call on the administration of CTT and ANACOM to develop initiatives necessary to reverse the closure of the CTT Lodge in Belém.

The vigil is scheduled for 6 p.m. in front of the CTT Shop in Bethlehem, now closed.