Thousands protest outside parliament on 27 October, but no tents go up. Calls for a general strike
On the evening of 27 October, the first day of the debate on the 2027 budget, thousands of people filled the square in front of parliament in Lisbon and the surrounding streets to demand affordable housing. There were no clashes. The protest was organised by the Casa Para Viver platform and by the movement that had been camping in tents on Rossio until police broke up the camp (Notícias ao Minuto).
The tents were not put up outside parliament as planned: at around 11pm a spokeswoman for the movement, Priscila Valadão, said it was not safe to set up a camp there. By half past midnight people had gone home. The movement holds its general assembly today, 28 October, at 7pm on Rossio (Diário de Notícias).
Speakers called on the trade union confederations CGTP and UGT to call a general strike over housing and the rising cost of living, and seven unions handed out leaflets making the same call. The CGTP said this week that a new general strike was possible but that it would not decide ‘in a hurry’; no date has been set (Diário de Notícias).
There were protests in other cities the same evening. In Porto, about 200 people gathered at Trindade metro station, and then more than 300 came to Praça D. João I, where the movement meets every evening; it has given notice of protests there until 31 December (Notícias ao Minuto). More than 200 people turned out in Coimbra, more than 150 in Leiria and about 50 in Faro (Notícias ao Minuto).