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Police in Lisbon and Porto cleared housing protest camps in the early hours of Sunday, 1 November, for the second weekend running, and the US embassy in Portugal issued a security alert the same day. It tells Americans to avoid Rossio Square in Lisbon and Dom João Square in Porto.
According to Al Jazeera, dozens of officers, some with dogs, used shields and batons around 4:30 a.m. to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who were shielding a tent camp at Rossio Square. Protesters had pitched more than 50 tents after a march by thousands on Saturday, 31 October. Police also dismantled a smaller camp in Porto.
Police commander Iuri Rodrigues issued three warnings, saying the tents were illegal and that resisting removal could lead to disobedience charges. Lawmaker Pedro Delgado Alves said the square was peaceful. He said nothing justified "a police intervention involving force, physical violence or baton charges."
The operation repeated what happened a week earlier. On Sunday, 25 October, police cleared a camp at Rossio Square and arrested 25 people. Six more were arrested in Porto. Police reported seven minor injuries across both operations and called their actions "proportionate." The activist group Casa para Viver (Homes to Live) said 60 people were hurt. Al Jazeera did not verify that figure.
The US embassy alert says protests and demonstrations over housing and the cost of living are taking place across Portugal, and that groups have called for more. It says police have recently used crowd control measures, including tear gas. It adds that demonstrations may leave approved routes or change at short notice. The embassy lists Portugal at Level 1 on the State Department scale, "Exercise Normal Caution."
Protesters want the minority centre-right government to scrap bills that would make evictions easier and remove rent caps on new leases. Al Jazeera reported that the evictions bill passed a first parliamentary reading, with the far-right Chega party abstaining. Casa para Viver has called for further protests, including one outside parliament.
The housing figures behind the anger are stark. Home prices have more than doubled since 2017, and rents on new leases have almost doubled. The Bank of Portugal estimates a national shortfall of 300,000 homes, which Al Jazeera put at roughly the size of Lisbon's entire housing stock.
Al Jazeera linked the Portuguese protests to housing anger in Spain and to demonstrations over economic policy in France, Germany and Albania.
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