Police Clear the Rossio and Porto Housing Camps a Third Time Before Dawn, as Organisers Count at Least 10 Detained in Lisbon and 38 Hurt in Porto

Riot police broke up the housing protest camps in Lisbon's Rossio and Porto's Praça D. João I before dawn on Sunday 1 November, the third time since 20 October that the PSP (Polícia de Segurança Pública, the urban police) has removed tents from the two squares. The operations began almost simultaneously at about 04:30, Lusa reported via Notícias ao Minuto. Organisers say at least 10 people were detained in Lisbon and 38 were hurt in Porto; the PSP had not published its own figures by early Sunday morning.

The tents went back up after Saturday's housing marches.

Lisbon: a five-minute order, then the Rossio emptied

The PSP told the movement's lawyers shortly after 00:30 that the tents had to come down. At 03:45 the commander of the PSP's Lisbon Metropolitan Command, Iuri Rodrigues, ordered the camp to disperse within five minutes, telling protesters by megaphone that the protest had been unlawful since 00:30 and that ignoring the order was a crime of disobedience (desobediência), Lusa reported. After a final warning at 04:10, hundreds of protesters linked arms in a human chain.

Earlier, deputies from the PS, Livre and BE had asked the commander not to use disproportionate force; Livre's Isabel Mendes Lopes argued that pitching tents is an administrative offence (contraordenação) that did not justify an intervention, according to Lusa. Deputies standing in front of the chain were moved aside by officers.

According to Lusa's account, firecrackers and flares went off as police advanced, and within five minutes only the abandoned tents remained in the square; the municipal police collected them. Lusa saw protesters struck with batons and a man with a bloodied face led away. Protesters retreated to Martim Moniz, building makeshift barricades, before dispersing. The PSP stood down at about 05:00. Camp spokesperson João Veloso counted "at least 10" detained and at least six injured, three taken to Hospital de São José, while saying the exact number was unclear. Monitors from the Ombudsman's National Prevention Mechanism (Mecanismo Nacional de Prevenção) watched the operation.

Porto: batons, dogs and a third charge

In Porto, where protesters had pitched about 40 tents, a PSP commissioner told them they could stay if they took the tents down; they voted to keep the camp, Lusa reported. After three warnings between 03:49 and 04:10, the PSP's Special Police Unit moved in at 04:32 with batons, shields and dogs, in an operation of about 20 minutes, the third police charge on the square since 10 October. Lusa saw several people hit and at least one protester bleeding from the head. Police later charged again near the City Hall on Avenida dos Aliados.

The organisers' preliminary count was 35 lightly and three seriously injured, and the movement's lawyer, Tiago Machado, said seven people were detained, Lusa reported. Público reported that a CMTV camera operator wearing a "PRESS" helmet was struck on the leg with a baton; the officer in charge, Eduardo Silva, said that "in an operation of this nature not everything always goes right" and that he would report it.

What it means for you

• The Rossio was open again and being cleaned by early morning, Observador reported.
• Once police give a lawful order to disperse, staying put can lead to a disobedience charge; the 31 people detained a week ago were due before the courts the following day.
• The protesters want the new rental law reversed, an end to evictions without rehousing, limits on purchases by property funds and more public housing.