Around five thousand people demonstrated this Saturday at Praça da Batalha, Rua de Santa Catarina e Aliados, in Porto, to demand the right to housing, chanting slogans such as “Peace, bread, health, housing”.
Around 4:00 pm in Praça da Batalha, next to the São João National Theater and under a bright sun, thousands of people heard the slogans “Peace, bread, health, housing”.
The start of the demonstration for the right to housing was underway, an initiative organized by the Porta a Porta movement, which, according to its spokesperson, Raquel Ferreira, had around five thousand protesters. In January this year, a similar demonstration had around four thousand protesters, according to PSP data.
The most loudly shouted slogans ranged from “Stability yes, evictions no”, “Low benefits, raise salaries”, “We want a roof, we want a floor”, “Porto listen, the people are fighting”, “April demands house to live in”, “Defend article 65 strenuously”, “We are tired of choosing: pay the rent or eat”, “I can no longer stand living in my parents’ house”, or “Lower the rents, extend the contracts” .
Walking along Rua de Santa Catarina and Rua Fernandes Tomás, were the Mareantes of the Douro River from Vila Nova de Gaia, who warned tourists that the fight for the right to housing was on the street. Tourists and passers-by stopped to film and photograph the thousands of protesters who blocked the circulation of several arteries in the heart of the city of Porto.
Filomena Alves, 59 years old, living in Porto, told Lusa that she was evicted and that “she found herself and wanted to be able to find a new home”.
“The prices are exuberant. This is a shame, the Government is cutting more and more”, she declared, shouting and visibly dismayed by the housing crisis that Porto and Portugal in general are experiencing.
At the demonstration, banners could also be seen reading “Build popular power – housing today” or “Union of architectural workers for the appreciation of our work”, as well as banners for “End of occupation in Palestine, freedom and independence”.
This was the fourth demonstration for the right to housing that the Porta a Porta movement organized in the space of a year and a half.
Today, at least 22 Portuguese cities were the scene of demonstrations for the right to housing.
Speaking to Lusa, Raquel Ferreira, spokesperson for the Porto nucleus of the Porta a Porta movement, explained that the demonstration would be delayed by an hour.
The demonstration in Porto, which was scheduled to start at 3pm, was delayed at the last minute, at the request of the PSP, due to the “change of shifts”, said the representative.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
