Around three dozen residents of neighborhoods in Lisbon and Loures affected by the noise and pollution caused by Lisbon airport demonstrated this Wednesday at the end of the day near the airport structure demanding, among others, the right to rest.
The protest, organized by the platform “Airport out, Lisbon improves”, brought together citizens from the neighborhoods of Areeiro, Alvalade, Campolide, Campo de Ourique, Camarate, Lumiar, São João da Talha, who with posters and slogans shouted against the inaction of authorities.
Near the exit of the Airport metro station, citizens demanded the end of night flights, the non-expansion and closure of the airport, in addition to the urgent construction of the new Lisbon airport outside the city and a new green lung in the city.
To journalists, Sérgio Morais, from the platform, explained that today’s action is related to the announced expansion of Humberto Delgado airport, recalling the latest news in which “it was indicated that the works will cost 300 million euros and last three years for a structure which is declared to be provisional”.
“We demand several things, but the main one is that this airport has to move to the location of the new airport. We are residents affected by this airport and expanding is a completely scandalous thing”, he highlighted.
According to Sérgio Morais, and according to figures from the Independent Technical Commission “depending on the measurements, there will be around 300 to 380 thousand people affected” by aircraft noise, including parts of the city of Lisbon and areas to the north such as Camarate, Póvoa de Santa Iria and Loures .
Sérgio Morais says that the noise caused by planes means for citizens in these areas “poor sleep, interrupted classes, interrupted medical appointments, the smell of fuel and high blood pressure also related to the noise”.
For the person responsible, the problem has worsened “quite a bit in recent years”, remembering that the platform has already met with ANAC (National Civil Aviation Authority) and they hope to also meet with Vinci (owner of ANA Portugal).
“I think there has to be a reaction (from the authorities), because it is so serious that the solution cannot be delayed any longer”, he said, recognizing that the concessionaire “normally says very little” but that the Lisbon municipality has already approved a motion demanding an end to night flights.
Sérgio Morais also recognized that these “violate the very laws that the Government decreed”, considering that the exception ordinance that allows 92 flights per week “should not exist”, taking into account that environmental associations have already measured 160 night flights per week.
Catarina Grilo, a resident of the Alvalade neighborhood for nearly 26 years, told Lusa that when the building where she lives was built in 1968, it was not expected that the airport would “have the number of movements it currently has”, considering that things “they have gotten worse in terms of noise, with night flights and, mainly, since the tourism boom, after the financial crisis”.
According to Catarina Grilo, she cannot use the house’s balcony and already has two sets of double-hung windows in each window, an expense that she considers should be compensated by ANA/Vinci, describing living “in a bunker and on a level where there are no longer any compensations possible.”
“Noise has to reduce and so does pollution. There are people who lived in this neighborhood and when they moved to other areas of the city, which are not so affected, they noticed that there was a brutal decrease in the amount of dust that enters the house, dust that we are breathing”, he pointed out.
Catarina Grilo also highlighted, in addition to the suspension of night flights, the need to comply with the exception regime, considering that its existence “is already an aberration”, in addition to being “permanently violated”, when she says that only 26 flights can be carried out per night and up to a maximum of 90 per week, and that the platform is aware that “for around a month and a half this regime has been violated every week”.
Also living in Alvalade, Ricardo Felner, told Lusa about the large investment he has already made in his house in double windows, and acknowledged that, since he has lived in the place for 25 years, the noise is “increasingly worse”, with planes flying arrive every “two minutes and all the kerosene smell it causes”.
“Every day, besides the noise, of course, there is another part that we don’t feel, but we know, which is pollution, this is a shame”, he said, remembering that people’s basic rights are being violated, such as it’s the “right to sleep and the right not to be woken up by planes every two minutes illegally.”
Ricardo Felner fears that the situation will continue until “a catastrophe happens” and on that day “the interference and bureaucratic obstacles will disappear but the responsibility of all the PS and PSD politicians who have governed the country in recent years will not disappear”.
“Quality tourism cannot be achieved with airports within the city. It is not carried out against the rights of the people who live here, this is a shame”, he considered, stressing that “as long as someone with the power does not take legal action against the State, As long as the European Union doesn’t get involved (in the issue) or until a catastrophe happens, it won’t end.”
According to the law, only exceptionally can there be flights between midnight and six in the morning. However, in the summer the rule was broken, as reported by the environmental association Zero.
Municipal deputies from the PCP, João Ferreira and from People-Animais-Natureza, António Morgado Valente, were also present at the protest, expressing their support for the cause.
In September, the executive of the Lisbon City Council unanimously approved a motion in which it defends the reduction of the number of movements per hour at Humberto Delgado Airport and refuses any increase in airport capacity.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
