Housing protest camp leaves Rossio overnight into 10 November. Protests across Lisbon and a march on 14 November come next
People taking part in Acampada de Lisboa, a tent protest against the housing crisis, decided at a general assembly on 9 November to take their tents down from Rossio square that same night. The protest, they say, is not over: instead of a single camp in the centre, there will be daytime protests in different parts of the city (Notícias ao Minuto).
On Tuesday, 10 November, the protesters are gathering in Alto de Pina, where they will also hold their assembly. On Wednesday, 11 November, they will protest at Web Summit, the tech conference in Parque das Nações that opened on 9 November. On Saturday, 14 November, members of the camp will join the housing march called by the Casa para Viver platform, and on 21 November they will join the CGTP trade unions' demonstration for higher wages and pensions and against the rising cost of living. Whether the tents go back up on Rossio or somewhere else in Lisbon will be decided at the assembly on Saturday (ECO).
A Christmas market is being set up on Rossio, and on 6 November the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, ordered the camp to move to Largo de São Domingos, Martim Moniz or Restauradores. Before that, the Lisbon Administrative Court had allowed one of the protesters, Renata Cambra, to stay on the square with her tent. However, the public prosecutor asked the Constitutional Court to review a 1974 rule requiring demonstrations to end by 00:30, and the Administrative Court's decision has been suspended while the review is under way.
In Porto, the camp on Praça D. João I has been in place since 10 October. On Tuesday its members are meeting the mayor, Pedro Duarte: the council wants to put the Christmas market's ice rink on the square, and the protesters say the rink and the camp cannot share it (Notícias ao Minuto).
The protesters are demanding that the new rental law be repealed, that investment funds be stopped from buying up housing, and that rents be capped so that people can afford a home.
