The key facts

  • The housing rights movement reports 37 injured during the camp clearance in Porto, two with fractures; police have not confirmed casualty figures.
  • Protesters set up the camp on Praça D. João I since Saturday; on Wednesday, after a people's assembly, they pitched tents again.
  • Mayor Pedro Duarte said the square 'is not a campsite' and that the right to protest is limited by law — usually until 00:30.

Camp clearance on Praça D. João I

Overnight into Thursday in Porto, police carried out an operation to remove housing rights movement activists who had set up a camp on Praça D. João I. The movement issued a statement condemning the 'harsh, disproportionate and unjustified use of force' against the camp's occupants, who, it said, 'remained peaceful from the very beginning and never once called for violence.' The statement reports 37 injured, two of whom suffered fractures.

Chronicle of the night according to the activists

The movement's spokesperson Pedro Manuel told CNN Portugal that the first attempt to disperse the protesters came at around two in the morning: cleaning machines were used for this. According to him, there were no clashes then — the protesters 'peacefully formed a human chain' to prevent the tents from being removed, and the machines left after media representatives had left the square. At around three in the morning, he said, the police returned; the activists again formed a chain, and it was then, according to the spokesperson, that the police began to 'brutally attack the protesters.' He called the security forces' actions 'criminal.' He told the Lusa agency that the movement has 'authorization to hold the action until the 20th.'

The police's position

A source at the Porto police command (PSP) told Euronews that 'harsher intervention was necessary' at the scene, but provided no details, including on the number of injured, promising information later. The police confirmed that the action was fully dispersed and that 'nothing was left' at the site.

Background of the protest

The activists had been on the square since Saturday; many slept outdoors after municipal services dismantled the tents set up at the start of the protest. On Wednesday, after a people's assembly, participants decided to continue the action over the housing crisis and pitched tents again.

City hall's reaction

Before the operation, Porto mayor Pedro Duarte, speaking on the sidelines of the Fábrica 2030 conference, stated (quote via Lusa): 'It is obvious that Praça D. João I is not a campsite and it will not become one. We will be absolutely ruthless about any attempt to set up tents there.' According to him, 'the right to protest is not in question,' but it 'must not restrict the freedom of all other residents of the city,' and Portuguese law stipulates that protest actions cannot last longer than a certain period, usually until 00:30.

Statements from movement representatives

Movement representative Leonor Figueiredo said on CNN Portugal on Thursday morning that the protesters had behaved calmly on the square, so there was no grounds for police intervention. 'Pedro Duarte said he would be ruthless, and now we have seen it and understood his message,' she added, referring to the mayor's statement on Wednesday.