Demos against housing shortage in Portugal - protest camps cleared

Yesterday there were demonstrations in Portugal against the housing shortage and a planned rent law. Early on Sunday morning, the police cleared a protest camp in the capital Lisbon.

Demonstrators had set up a camp with more than 50 tents in the central Rossio square. Police used batons and dogs to disperse the hundreds of protesters. A similar, smaller camp in the city of Porto was also broken up by police.

Housing crisis in Portugal

The protests in Portugal are particularly directed against the centre-right minority government's plans to enable faster evictions from apartments and to suspend the rent cap for new contracts. The draft passed a first reading in parliament with the far-right Chega party abstaining.

There is a serious housing crisis in Portugal. Since 2017, property prices have more than doubled, and rents for new leases have risen almost as much. Young people are particularly affected by this.

Government sticks to the law

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro ruled out withdrawing the law but said he was open to making changes before the final vote in the coming weeks. The leader of the opposition Socialist Party, José Luís Carneiro, called on the government to hold talks with the opposition and protesters.

The police had already come under criticism the previous week when they used batons to clear camps in the same squares and arrested numerous people.

Protests across Europe

In many European countries, young people in particular are currently taking to the streets, including Spain, Italy, France and Belgium. In Germany, the group “Gen Z regulates” called for protests for the first time yesterday. What almost all demonstrations have in common is the demand for an affordable life.