Moedas Orders the Housing Camp Off the Rossio to Make Room for the Christmas Market, and the Protester Asks the Court to Void It

Lisbon's mayor, Carlos Moedas, signed an order on Friday 6 November telling the housing protest camp on the Rossio to move so that the square's Christmas market can be set up. The order, seen by Lusa and reported by Jornal de Negócios, says the "Acampada de Lisboa" (Lisbon Camp) must relocate to one of three places: the Largo de São Domingos, the Praça do Martim Moniz or the Restauradores.

The protester at the centre of the case, Renata Cambra, has asked the Lisbon administrative court to declare the order void. Her lawyer says it defies the ruling that let her keep a tent on the Rossio until 24 November, the day of the final vote on the 2027 budget.

What the council decided, and why

Moedas acted on an opinion from the Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP, Public Security Police). According to Lusa, the PSP found that the camp and the market "are irreconcilable in the same place" and suggested the same three squares as alternatives for the protest.

The council had moved the other way only the day before. On Thursday it allowed Cambra a "symbolic" tent on the square during the market, RTP reported. On Friday it ordered that tent out so the stallholders could move in.

The order again relies on the 1974 law on the right of assembly, Decreto-Lei 406/74. The Lisbon court had already refused to apply the clause that sets 00:30 as an automatic cut-off for protests, which sends that question to the Constitutional Court. This time, according to Observador, Moedas cites a different clause, which lets the authorities interrupt a gathering that seriously disturbs public order or the free exercise of other people's rights.

What the protester's lawyer argues

Cambra leads a small party, Trabalhadores Unidos (United Workers). Her lawyer, Leonor Caldeira, filed the complaint on Friday. According to Observador, it says:

• at about 16:20 on Friday, a municipal police officer told Cambra that the police would act to enforce the order;
• the order is aimed at the whole protest, not a single tent, and fitting the protest around the market is a matter for the court that issued the ruling;
• the PSP opinion was issued at 09:44 on Thursday, eight hours before the council itself offered Cambra a tent "compatible with the Christmas market", and it does not show the two cannot coexist;
• the southern half of the square was still free of any market structures on Friday.

"An administrative act that disregards a court decision is void," the filing says. It asks the court to stop the PSP and the municipal police from dispersing, removing or moving the protest. It also asks for fines on Moedas and on the commanders of both forces if they do not comply.

The market is organised by the Associação de Dinamização da Baixa Pombalina, a downtown traders' association. Stallholders want it to stay on the Rossio and say the dispute is costing them money, according to RTP.

Most of the Lisbon detainees choose trial

Also on Friday, the people detained when police cleared the Lisbon camp in October gave their answer to the prosecutors' offer, which we explained on 27 October: donate 150 euros to a charity and have the disobedience case dropped after 45 days, or go to trial.

Most of those detained on 20 October turned the offer down, their lawyer, Ricardo Sá Fernandes, said at Lisbon's Campus de Justiça, according to Lusa via ECO. "It is a very small number of people who accepted," he said. Those detained on 25 October were heard in the afternoon. In all, 82 people detained on the two dates face the case.

That does not yet mean a trial. On Wednesday, Lusa reported, the prosecutor said the case could still be closed, citing the Rossio ruling and the question of whether the police action was proportionate. Sá Fernandes said both outcomes remain open. At trial, the defendants could be acquitted or sentenced to a fine or prison.

Porto sets its own date: 13 November

Porto's camp on the Praça D. João I, opposite the Rivoli theatre, has run since 10 October and has been charged by police three times. The council told Lusa that work to install the square's traditional ice rink starts on 13 November, Observador reported.

The mayor, Pedro Duarte, emailed the protesters on 4 November, the third time he has written to them about sharing the space. He asked to discuss how the protest can be reconciled with the Christmas events. The protesters had turned down an invitation to meet at the town hall earlier in the week, saying conditions were not right after another police charge.

What it means if you live or work nearby

• Lisbon: until the court rules on Cambra's complaint, it is not settled whether the camp stays on the Rossio or moves to São Domingos, Martim Moniz or the Restauradores. How the Christmas market is laid out on the square also depends on that ruling.
• Porto: work on the ice rink at the Praça D. João I is due to begin on Friday 13 November.
• The deadline that matters: the court allowed the Rossio protest until 24 November, the day of the final budget vote.