The Porto Brief, Week of 18 October 2026: A Week of Protest on Praça D. João I, the Council Pays for Its Own Health Centres, and FC Porto Lose Late in Seville

Welcome to the Porto Brief, your weekly view from the banks of the Douro. Praça D. João I spent the week as a protest camp, the council said it will pay for five health centre rebuilds itself after missing the recovery-fund window, and FC Porto came close in Seville before losing late. Your roundup for 11 to 18 October.

A week on Praça D. João I

The housing camp that police cleared on Monday was back within days. In the early hours of Thursday the PSP moved in again, citing the 00:30 limit on open-air gatherings; the Movimento pela Habitação says 39 people were hurt, and the police say protesters resisted. The PSP has since sent the Ministério Público video from the public cameras around the square, saying it will help identify people suspected of resisting officers, assault and insults. The IGAI, which inspects the police, has opened its own case.

On Thursday night about 3,500 people marched from the square to the Aliados, some of them climbing the ramps to the city hall and calling for Pedro Duarte to resign. The movement called the crowd off at about 01:20, saying at least six far-right activists had joined to provoke fights; one person went to Santo António hospital. The mayor said the cause was "legitimate and fair" but must be pursued within the law. On Saturday the campers walked with the CGTP's cost-of-living march to applause, and pitched their tents again. Our report on Saturday night in Porto and Rossio has where things stand.

At the Câmara

Porto could not apply for recovery-fund (PRR) money for work on five health centres, because of the way health powers were handed to councils. Duarte says the council will pay for the work already under way even if state money comes late, which means less for other things, and wants the next state budget or the local finance law review to put it right. The Socialist councillor Manuel Pizarro puts the gap in what Lisbon owes the city for devolved education and social care at about 11 million euros for 2024 to 2026.

The council has also suspended the award of the contract to rebuild Rua de Guerra Junqueiro, between Campo Alegre and the Avenida da Boavista, after what Duarte called very contradictory views from residents and parents; the street keeps its new 30 km/h limit while the plan is rethought. GO Porto has put the Cais das Pedras viaduct, built on the riverside for the 2001 European Capital of Culture, out to tender: a 5.94 million euro, 15-month repair, with bids due by 22 November.

Since Friday the city has had five public defibrillators on the street, at the Aliados, Bairro das Campinas, Praça da Batalha, Praça do Marquês and the Ribeira, and training for people who live and work nearby and for any volunteer. Readers of Condé Nast Traveller voted Porto Europe's most welcoming city, ahead of Lisbon, and second in the world behind Melbourne.

Football and sport

FC Porto lost 3-2 to Real Betis at La Cartuja, the Seville stadium where they won the 2003 UEFA Cup. Gabri Veiga and Samu, two minutes after coming on, turned the game around within six minutes, but Cucho Hernández levelled and Isco scored a penalty in the 84th minute. It is a second defeat in two Champions League games, after Manchester City at the Dragão. Boavista are mourning Vítor Murta, club president from 2018 to January 2025, who has died aged 50; the funeral mass is on Tuesday at 10:00 at Santo António das Antas. In the courts, the Relação do Porto ordered a retrial in September in the W52-FC Porto doping case, ruling the former sporting director's written statement inadmissible; he now says he will testify again.

Police

The GNR arrested a 22-year-old in Maia on suspicion of drug trafficking and threats with a firearm after searches in Maia, Porto and Gondomar, seizing more than 1,200 doses of cannabis and 329 of MDMA; three others are formally suspects.

Around the north

Thyssenkrupp Nucera is putting its first electrolyser cell line in Gaia; Porto airport is growing far faster than Lisbon; the health inspectors could not confirm that ten Santo António heart patients died waiting for surgery; and Douro line trains stop between Marco de Canaveses and Régua from 3 November.

Getting around this week

Tonight the academic federation's serenata opens freshers' week on the Aliados at one minute past midnight, so the avenue and nearby streets close to traffic from 22:00 and some STCP lines change routes until 03:00. The week ends with a freshers' train to Braga on Thursday. Then the Army takes over: the Dia do Exército runs from Tuesday 20 to Sunday 25 October, with about 1,500 soldiers. Expo Exército, free, is open daily from 10:00 to 22:00 at the Largo do Amor de Perdição by the Cordoaria, and the parade goes down the Aliados at 11:30 on Sunday 25 October, so expect closures there from 22:00 on Saturday 24.

What's on, and the weather

The International Organ and Sacred Music Festival brings about 30 concerts to the city's churches until January; Juan Paradell Solé plays the Sé on Monday 19 October for the cathedral organ's 41st anniversary. Also on Monday, the Tuareg band Imarhan play Casa da Música at 21:00 (25 euros), and the Brazilian rockers Titãs are at the Super Bock Arena on Friday 23 October (30 to 62 euros). Climbers from abroad come to Campanhã for the open São Bloc competition at the São Rock indoor wall on 24 and 25 October. The Urban Greening biennial is at Serralves from 29 to 31 October, and on 31 October the Galeria Municipal's free Fogo Fátuo evening of music, dance and film runs from 15:00 to 21:00. More in our events calendar.

IPMA forecasts dry, clear days for Porto today and Monday, up to 22 and 20 degrees, then cloud from Tuesday with a 45 percent chance of rain and highs near 17.

Feature image: Avenida dos Aliados and the Câmara Municipal do Porto, by Claudia Fernandes, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.