The China Mail - Tents spring up in Lisbon as Portugal housing protests spread

Hundreds of protesters rallied at night in Rossio square -- located at the bustling, touristic heart of the Portuguese capital -- following a march that had rallied thousands of people nationwide.

The mostly young attendees vowed to stay overnight, with hundreds singing songs as they sat around the statue of King Pedro IV that dominates the square, AFP journalists saw.

"The Portuguese social class that pays taxes, that which keeps this country going, is under attack and is losing its rights, notably its right to housing," said Elena Costa, a 46-year-old social assistant.

"So we are all here together to try to explain that we are suffocating," she said.

Engineer Antonio Margado, 52, criticised the centre-right government for "a total liberalisation of rents; owners are protected more and more, while tenants who need a house are those who are protected less and less".

Portuguese housing prices rose by 124 percent between 2015 and 2024, roughly twice as fast as the EU average, according to official data.

The impact is especially harsh on the young and in Lisbon, which concentrates around one-quarter of Portugal's more than 11 million inhabitants including the capital's greater metropolitan area.

Another of the protesters, Isabel Guerreiro, told public broadcaster RTP: "As a self-employed professional, I obviously don't have the means to pay Lisbon's exorbitant rents -- and I'm a daughter of Lisbon."

Saturday's camp in Lisbon amplified a housing protest that started in the northern city of Porto, where dozens of tents are set up.

- 'Matter of survival' -

At the earlier protest in Lisbon called by the main CGTP union, demonstrators called for better public services, pensions and wages as well as measures against soaring housing costs.

Marching to the roar of drums, they held placards with slogans including "Their greed, our misery" and "the cost of living increases, the people can't take it anymore."

"There are many problems. Wages, housing, the cost of living: it's a matter of survival," Yolanda Silva, a 43-year-old civil servant, told AFP.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said "we fully understand that people want answers" and to "express their outrage at what, in their view, may be omissions in public policies".

But he warned political rivals against "importing into Portugal climates of instability and protest that, in fact, have no support in Portuguese society", in a likely reference to violent protests that have rocked France.

The expanding Portuguese movement comes as Spain is gripped by housing protest camps and demonstrations that are entering their fourth week and have culminated in the calling of an early general election for November 29.

S.Wilson--ThChM