Housing protest camps cleared in Lisbon and Porto; arrests reported in the capital
Housing-rights encampments that had occupied public squares for days were dismantled in Lisbon and Porto in the early hours of Tuesday, 20 October. In Lisbon’s Rossio Square, tensions rose as demonstrators resisted the removal of their tents. In Porto’s Praça D. João I, the remaining protesters agreed to pack up after police gave them a deadline. Initial information put the number detained in Rossio at at least 22, while no official total had yet been released.
The operations reached the same outcome but unfolded differently on the ground. In Porto, shortly before 6am, police issued a final warning to those still in the square, demanding that they remove their tents and cautioning that anyone who refused could be detained. Protesters initially resisted before collecting their belongings. At a public assembly on Monday evening, 35 people had voted to spend the night at the site. As of Tuesday morning, no detentions had been reported in Porto.
The intervention in Rossio was more tense. After protesters formed a human chain, police dismantled the tents and detained several people. The early report of at least 22 detainees was not a confirmed official total. The housing movement’s medical team said one person was injured during the operation and that its members were prevented from reaching the person to provide assistance. The team said the person’s arm had been twisted and their clothing torn; it also said that no visible injury had been identified at the time. Those claims were attributed to the movement’s medical team.
People detained in Lisbon were taken to different police stations as access restrictions around Rossio were lifted. The entrances to the nearby Metro station were temporarily closed in the morning. Metro de Lisboa said entry was suspended at about 8am and resumed at 8.35am. Once municipal cleaning teams had cleared the square, normal circulation returned. Some protesters moved to Praça da Figueira, where they gathered and agreed to hold another housing-rights demonstration in Rossio at 7pm that day.
Clearing the camps does not resolve the demands that prompted them. Protesters have called for more affordable rents, an expansion of public housing, the use of vacant homes and the withdrawal of planned changes to eviction rules. At an earlier assembly, participants agreed to urge trade unions to call an Iberian general strike on 11 November; that is an appeal to unions, not confirmation that a strike has been declared. As of Tuesday morning, no agreement between the authorities and the protesters had been announced.