Rossio Housing Camp Weighs Leaving as About 70 Tents Stay Overnight
Housing protesters at Lisbon's Rossio kept about 70 tents up overnight and will discuss leaving. Also: the Porto camp dispute and a rain warning.
The housing protest camp on Praça do Rossio in central Lisbon is due to discuss again today whether to leave the square, a day after a proposal to pull out was rejected. About 70 tents stayed up through the night, Rádio Observador reported.
The debate comes as IPMA (Portugal’s weather and sea institute) put Lisbon under a yellow warning for heavy rain from 18:00 until 06:00 the next morning.
How the vote on leaving Rossio played out
The plan put to the camp’s Assembleia Popular (people’s assembly) on the square was to take down the tents by Wednesday and choose another site for the protest in the meantime. It did not win broad support. After a long discussion, the question went to a plenary of delegates, a smaller group of people who run the camp. That group voted to stay on the square for another night.
Whether the protesters leave Rossio is still open, according to Rádio Observador. The same day, about 200 people also held a silent vigil against police violence on nearby Praça dos Restauradores.
A similar standoff in Porto
Porto has its own camp, on Praça Dom João I, where several tents remain. Porto mayor Pedro Duarte, who recently completed one year in office, told the newspaper Jornal de Notícias and radio station TSF that the square cannot be taken over by private groups. City hall had emailed the protesters to say that work to set up an ice rink on the square would begin.
Duarte said he is willing to meet protesters at the Câmara Municipal (city hall) but still refuses to go to the square himself. He argued that a mayor cannot let a small group dictate his conduct, and said he wanted to avoid what could look like a tantrum on either side.
What it means for Lisbon residents
For people who live, work or pass through Baixa, the camp means tents on one of the city’s busiest squares for at least another day, with a possible move to an undecided new site later in the week. The rain warning covers tonight, while the protesters are still sleeping on the square.
The protests have also drawn in national politicians. José Luís Carneiro, leader of the Socialist Party (PS), told public broadcaster RTP at the start of the Porto Marathon that he stands with the young protesters but that the party also has to speak for middle-class families and older people. He pointed to rents of €2,300, which he said young people and families cannot afford.
Carneiro also said the new rent law needs to protect both landlords and tenants so that there is balance between them. He said the PS would be the voice of every generation in the Assembleia da República (Portugal’s parliament), and called for good will from all sides to find solutions to the housing crisis.
What happens next
The Rossio camp is expected to return to the question of leaving the square today. The proposal on the table would have the tents removed by Wednesday, with a new location still to be chosen.
In Porto, the city’s planned ice rink on Praça Dom João I puts a deadline on the camp there, though reports did not say when the protesters would have to move.
Source: Observador
