LISBON
Shortly before 6am on October 20, two police vans drove into Lisbon’s Rossio Square, where tents had stood since October 17. The encampments had grown out of a national day of protest on October 17, called by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), the country’s main trade union confederation, against rising housing, fuel and food prices. Most occupants were asleep when a loudspeaker gave them five minutes to disperse. “Tents were pulled away with people still inside,” said Maria Gonçalves, who works at an art shop. Police loaded people onto trucks, and within half an hour the square had been cleared, with 55 people detained for disobedience.
The operation in Lisbon coincided with the clearance of a similar occupation in Porto’s Dom João I Square. The ongoing protests reflect a wider European discontent that has recently erupted into violent riots in France and clashes in Italy and Belgium. Though the grievances vary, the protests point to mounting frustration over living costs, inadequate public services and the struggle to secure affordable housing. In Portugal, the immediate focus is the widening gap between rents and incomes.
At the Rossio Square in Lisbon, demonstrators had gathered around the statue of King Pedro IV, singing and shaking their house keys, echoing actions in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. One sign declared: “A house cannot be a privilege.” Calling itself Acampada de Lisboa, or Lisbon Housing Camp, the occupation organised a kitchen, a first-aid point and daily assemblies where decisions were made by a show of hands. Its demands included withdrawing the government’s proposed rent reform, building more public housing, preventing investment funds from buying homes and leaving them empty and halting evictions when tenants have nowhere else to go.
After the police action, protesters returned to the public squares once again, leading to yet another round of evictions. At 2am on October 25, police with dogs and batons dismantled camps in Lisbon and Porto, leading to complaints from protesters that the authorities used disproportionate force.
Portuguese house prices rose by 124 per cent between 2015 and 2024, roughly twice the European Union average. In Greater Lisbon, a 60-square-metre flat would cost about €914 a month (nearly Rs1 lakh), almost the entire national minimum wage of €920 before tax. “Most people my age cannot afford the luxury of living alone or with a partner,” said João Diogo, a restaurant worker in his early thirties. “We have to share a home and live in bunks as if we were soldiers. And then we complain that the birth rate is falling,” said Joaquim, a primary school clerk. Thiago Nunes, 36, a street musician, lives with his grandmother because moving out, he said, would leave him “instantly broke”. Their experiences reflect a growing sense that even full-time employment no longer guarantees a home of one’s own.
The immediate target is the government’s proposed reform of rental law, approved by parliament in principle on September 30, with the far-right Chega party abstaining. The measure would remove restrictions on rent increases between successive tenancies, relax rules on advance payments and deposits and speed up evictions. Critics warn that the changes would expose tenants to steeper rent rises and a greater risk of losing their homes. The government argues that giving landlords more flexibility would encourage them to make more properties available for rent.
The movement has drawn inspiration from neighbouring Spain, where housing insecurity has fuelled public anger. On September 23, 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her Madrid home and taken away on a stretcher, provoking widespread outrage. Her case helped galvanise demonstrations, including an encampment in Puerta del Sol, before she died in hospital on October 7. Her eviction became a potent symbol of a crisis affecting generations, from young adults unable to leave the family home to older tenants fearful of losing theirs. On October 20, activists in Porto connected by video call with housing movements in several Spanish cities, exchanged messages and called for a general strike across the two countries on November 11.
The unrest elsewhere in Europe has a broader set of causes. In France, demonstrations over poor school conditions and rising living costs escalated into some of the country’s worst riots in decades on October 17, with violent groups looting shops, attacking police and setting buildings and vehicles ablaze. Italy and Belgium have also witnessed clashes during demonstrations over economic pressures and public services. The movements are not centrally coordinated, but their overlapping grievances have intensified scrutiny of governments struggling to respond to popular discontent. In Portugal, however, the confrontation has centred on housing and the proposed weakening of tenant protections.
Portugal’s Public Security Police (PSP) said officers had repeatedly warned against occupying public squares and acted “according to criteria of need, adequacy and proportionality”. Spokesperson Sérgio Soares denied that excessive force had been used. “There was no use of batons, no police charge, no individual excesses by officers. It was a proportionate action in response to the resistance of some protesters,” he said.
Priscila Valadão, a spokesperson for the Lisbon camp, described the operation as a “very aggressive” charge, alleging that tents were “practically dragged away while people were still sleeping”. Another protester, Telmo Silva, said demonstrators were kneed and “thrown through the air and beaten badly”. Others alleged that handcuffed protesters were pushed to the ground and dragged by their collars.
Interior Minister Luís Neves said on October 21 that “the camps are over”, adding that “the exercise of this right does not excuse compliance with the law”. He also warned that police would act “pre-emptively” amid concerns about “extremist elements” and “imported chaos”. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro cautioned against “importing climates of instability again in Portugal”. He had earlier described the organisers as “selfish”, later clarifying that he meant political parties and movements, not the people occupying the squares.
Ministers said 32,000 homes had been delivered this year, with a target of 40,000 by December and 50,000 in 2027. Other measures included tax exemptions for under-35s buying their first home and a public guarantee covering the full purchase price of mortgages for eligible buyers. Housing Minister Miguel Pinto Luz indicated a willingness to revise the rental legislation but rejected the description of the proposal as “inhuman and unjust”.
The protests, however, seem to be spreading across the country. University professors, medical practitioners and IT workers have also joined the movement, extending it beyond those struggling to pay rent. For them, the issue is not simply the cost of accommodation but a system in which people who work and live in Portugal are increasingly priced out of their own cities. “This is the practice of democracy,” a protester told THE WEEK. “And this is only the beginning.”
