Rossio Housing Camp Holds Concert Night as Police Stay Away

The housing protest camp in Lisbon’s Praça D. Pedro IV, better known as Rossio, spent Wednesday night singing, dancing and chanting against the government, with no police in sight for the whole day, according to the Lusa news agency as reported by Diário de Notícias and Jornal de Notícias.

The quiet day followed recent police charges and the destruction of tents at the camp. Protesters used it to vote on new actions, including a march on Sunday against a planned hotel in a former barracks in Graça and a vigil on Thursday against police violence.

A calm evening at Rossio

About 60 tents stand on the side of the square facing the D. Maria theater. In the late afternoon, residents of the camp sat outside their tents talking, painting or looking at their phones. The noise picked up when the microphones came on for the regular people’s assembly, and drivers passing the square honked in support, drawing cheers.

At the information point, a volunteer named Paulo fielded a steady stream of visitors. People asked whether cash donations were accepted, where similar initiatives were running and how they could help. He wrote down contact details for new volunteers and took donations. Sleeping bags and mattresses were piled behind him, as the weather has turned cold and rain is expected.

Paulo told Lusa that all help is accepted and that it comes from men and women of every age. Visitors bring money, food, drinks and items such as sleeping bags, or simply leave a name and a phone number.

Sunday march in Graça and a vigil at Restauradores

The assembly approved several proposals. One commits the camp to joining a demonstration on Sunday against the construction of a hotel in the quartel da Graça, a former military barracks in the Graça neighborhood.

The “mothers of the camp” also took the stage and called for a one-hour vigil on Thursday at Praça dos Restauradores, starting at 19:00, in protest against police violence. A vigil at the same hour was called in Porto.

A reply to the government on foreign residents

Speakers at the assembly said the fight for housing belongs to everyone who lives and works in Portugal, Portuguese or not. The chants answered comments by Secretary of State Rui Armindo Freitas, who said that foreigners who take part in demonstrations and break the law could lose their residence permits.

Police were barely mentioned in the speeches. The night’s music came from reggae musician and activist Gregory Ras, known as G Ras, who is of Hungarian origin and lives in Portugal; from Juana Na Rap (Joana Santos), a rapper from Monte da Caparica who sings in Creole and released the album “Sob pressão” this year; and from MJ Soul Jah (Luís Semedo Mendes), a Lisbon-born artist with Cape Verdean parents and the album “Sukundi na Undi”. When “Grândola, Vila Morena” played at the end, many protesters had already gone to bed in their tents.

Why it matters for Lisbon residents

The camp is part of a wave of housing protests that began in Porto on Oct. 10 and spread to Lisbon and other cities. Operations by the PSP (Portugal’s public security police) to break up the camps and remove tents at Rossio and at Praça D. João I in Porto ended in police charges and thrown objects, and more than two dozen protesters and officers were injured.

The protesters’ demands target rules that affect Lisbon tenants directly. They want the new rental law (lei do arrendamento) reversed, limits on home purchases by real estate investment funds and rent caps they describe as “truly affordable”. For foreign residents, the government’s warning about residence permits adds a separate concern about joining the protests.

What happens next

The next public actions are the Thursday vigil at Restauradores and in Porto, and the Sunday demonstration over the Graça barracks hotel project. Both events are planned in central Lisbon, at Restauradores and in Graça.

Sources: Diário de Notícias, Jornal de Notícias