Clashes in Porto leave 38 injured at housing protest
At least 35 minor injuries and three serious injuries resulted from clashes between the PSP and protesters from Porto's Acampada in the early hours of Sunday.
PSP and protesters clash again near Porto City Council
At least 38 people were injured — 35 with minor injuries and three with serious injuries — following fresh clashes between the PSP and protesters from Porto's Acampada in the early hours of Sunday. The figures were released by the protest organisers in a preliminary assessment recorded around 05:45.
According to Correio da Manhã, around half an hour after Praça D. João I was cleared, police and protesters met again outside Porto's Municipal Council building. The organisers had called on those present to go up Avenida dos Aliados to carry out a count of the injured and missing. Along the way, protesters were beaten with batons, confirmed news agency Lusa on the ground.
In the same period, a scuffle occurred involving several plainclothes men, one of them wielding a firearm. The group eventually gathered near Trindade station.
Seven arrested and reports of police violence
The movement's lawyer, Tiago Machado, reported that seven people had been arrested during the night. Two female protesters who were part of the human chain in front of the Municipal Council described to Lusa what they characterised as direct assaults by the PSP.
"They used everything against someone who was just forming a chain. The number of people who had to be pulled up was significant. This time they pushed more but we retreated faster," the two women said, both wearing helmets and masks.
The protesters said they had been "pulled by police with batons, knees and kicks" — statements made after the police charge which, according to them, "pushed" those present towards the Aliados.
Failed negotiations in the early hours
Throughout the night, PSP officers and protesters discussed the possibility of remaining in the square. The police made overnight stay conditional on the dismantling of tents, a condition the protesters rejected.
At 03:50, a PSP superintendent met with lawyer Tiago Machado to debate the legal grounds for the police intervention.
Protest demands
The protesters are demanding the reversal of the new Rental Law, an end to demolitions and evictions without alternative housing, a halt to property acquisitions by real estate funds, an increase in public housing, the recovery of vacant properties for housing purposes, and rents that are "genuinely affordable".
Source: Correio da Manhã