SOS Racism demands “end of police violence and brutal repression”

O sOS movement Racism today demanded “the end of police violence and brutal repression”, reacting to the authorities’ interventions on protesters who were concentrating this morning in Lisbon and Porto for the right to housing.

In a statement, SOS Racismo also urges the “immediate political and criminal accountability of the police forces and the government” in what he considers to have been “a disproportionate, violent and illegal attack” against the Camped by the right to housing in Lisbon (Praça D. Pedro IV, Rossio) and Porto (Praça D. João I).

“The coordinated action of the Public Security Police (PSP) and the Intervention Police constitutes a serious violation of the fundamental rights, freedoms and guarantees entered in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic”, denounces SOS Racismo.

The movement has been following the Camps on the ground, which allows it “to witness directly the peaceful conduct of the protesters and, subsequently, the unmeasured brutality of police action”.

Quoted in the press release, Mariana Carneiro, SOS member Racism gave the following account: “The police were armed to the teeth (...), it seemed they were in absolute battle, confronting an enemy with military power.”

The same activist also says that she saw “many people on the ground being beaten, taking with the club already being on the ground, therefore not constituting any kind of threat”.

According to data gathered by SOS Racism, more than 30 people received medical support in Rossio, provided by the Camp’s first aid group.

“In the face of the extreme gravity of events and the gross violation of constitutional rights,” SOS Racism calls for the “immediate resignation” of the Minister of Internal Administration.

The movement also intimates the Inspectorate General of the Internal Administration (IGAI) to open an inquiry to the PSP's actions and urges the Government and National Directorate of the PSP to clarify in public “who ordered the intervention, on what legal basis and with what criteria of proportionality”.

The movement also calls for a “take of position” of the President of the Republic on what happened this morning and the filing of cases for disobedience filed against the arrested demonstrators.

The PSP dispersed today at dawn the demonstrations for the right to housing, batonada and using rubber bullets and dogs, in two actions simultaneously in Lisbon and Porto, after more than two hours of tension and orders for the dispersion and removal of tents assembled by protesters, who did not comply, claiming that the right to demonstration is protected by the Constitution.

According to the PSP, in Lisbon there are seven wounded and 31 detained for disobedience, but, in a statement published on social networks, the Lisbon camp mentions dozens of wounded.

“ Early today, October 25, dozens of protesters were brutally assaulted by the intervention police. Of these, more than 20 went to the Hospital de São José and many others were assisted on site by the care team of the Campada ", reads in the publication of the Campada de Lisboa on social network Instagram.

In Porto, and also according to the PSP, the intervention caused eight wounded, a number that the camp rises to 37.

The Camp of Porto – which began on the 10th – was the subject of a first police intervention, which caused nearly 40 wounded, in the early morning of the 15th, after that day they manifested about three thousand people in Praça D. João I.

In Lisbon, the Camp began on the 17th, following the demonstration called by CGTP and that brought together thousands of people.

The protesters set up tents in Praça D. Pedro IV and were the target of a first police intervention on Tuesday. This Saturday, and after a demonstration that gathered tens of thousands of people on Liberty Avenue, they set up tents again.

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 demonstrations in defense of the right to housing will return today to the squares of Lisbon, Porto and Faro.