Initial reports suggest that the police deployed excessive force to disperse a peaceful protest camp in Porto, Portugal, in the early hours of 15 October that injured 37 people, said Amnesty International in a statement today.
“Reports of police violence against people peacefully protesting Portugal’s housing crisis are deeply troubling. People have the right to protest peacefully, including the right to occupy public space and including at night-time. The Portuguese authorities must respect and protect that right.
“Dispersal of peaceful protests must be a last resort. Reports that police beat protesters with batons resulting in dozens of people being injured, including a person with a disability, raise serious concerns that the use of force was disproportionate,” said João Godinho Martins, Executive Director of Amnesty International Portugal.
Reports that police beat protesters with batons resulting in dozens of people being injured, including a person with a disability, raise serious concerns that the use of force was disproportionate.”
João Godinho Martins, Executive Director of Amnesty International Portugal
On 10 October, people started to gather in Porto’s Praça D. João I to protest against the unaffordability of housing in Portugal, inspired by protests in Spain following the eviction of
Maricarmen Abascal
. Protestors initially set up 50 tents to occupy the square and, according to
media reports,
described the peaceful action as “an act of political desperation”.
On the morning of 12 October, Portuguese police ordered protesters to remove tents, citing an “unauthorized occupation of public property”. Police subsequently removed and confiscated the tents and belongings, according to protesters in contact with Amnesty International.
The protest continued and on 12 October the activists notified Porto City Council of their intention to continue their demonstration. Porto mayor Pedro Duarte responded by saying that he would take an “absolute
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