Housing protests in Portugal and six other European countries on 20–22 November. About 60 tents back on Rossio
Tenants' movements, trade unions and student groups from seven European countries have agreed to hold simultaneous protests on 20, 21 and 22 November. The decision was taken on 3 November at a meeting in Paris. Besides Portugal, the countries represented were Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom, Observador reports, citing the Lusa news agency.
Their common demand is to halt the rising cost of living. Participants want governments to cap the prices of housing, food and energy, raise wages and pensions, and stop increasing spending on arms.
Portugal was represented in Paris by the tenants' association Sindicato de Moradoras de Lisboa (despite the word *sindicato* in its name, it is not a trade union) and the environmental movements Climáximo and Estudantes pelo Fim ao Fóssil. No Portuguese trade unions attended the meeting. The times and venues of the protests in Lisbon and Porto have not yet been announced.
Meanwhile, the protest camp on Rossio has grown again. On the night of 4 November about 60 tents went up there; a day earlier there had been just one. The police kept their distance. The previous evening, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro had used an address to the nation to call for "unwanted clashes" to be avoided, Observador reports.
