Porto police charge at housing camp prompts inquiry and calls for mayor's resignation
Police charged a housing camp in Praça D. João I, Porto, in the early hours of Thursday, 15 October. The movement says 39 people were hurt, and the IGAI opened an administrative inquiry on Friday, 16 October.
The charge at Praça D. João I
The housing camp in Praça D. João I has been running since Saturday, 10 October. On the evening of Wednesday, 14 October, hundreds of people gathered in the square against the housing crisis. In the early hours of Thursday, 15 October, the Public Security Police (PSP) moved against the camp, and the force said protesters had not complied with orders to take down their tents. It described its intervention as a response to 'resistance behaviour'. Municipal staff then cleaned the square and removed material, which Porto mayor Pedro Duarte referred to the police for explanation.
- Housing camp in Praça D. João I is under way from Saturday
- Evening demonstration of hundreds against the housing crisis
- Police charge the camp; the movement later reports 39 injured
- New demonstration of thousands, with one incident involving four identified people
- IGAI opens administrative inquiry into the intervention
- New demonstration planned in Praça D. João I
Injuries and the police account
The movement behind the camp says the charge injured 39 participants, two of them seriously, and that a person with a disability was among those hurt. Several participants were taken to hospital, according to the movement. An earlier count of 37 injured from the same movement, carried by JN, was later updated to 39. The PSP confirmed that one of its officers was injured and that some protesters were hurt as well, but it did not say how many. The figure of 39 therefore remains the movement's count rather than an official one.
- Movement count, earlier report
- 37 people
- Movement count, later report
- 39 people
Inquiry, criticism and the mayor's response
The Inspeção-Geral da Administração Interna (IGAI), known as the 'Police of the Police', opened an administrative process on Friday, 16 October, into the intervention. Socialist Party (PS) leader José Luís Carneiro said the government moved only after public outrage, and he asked that the use of force be judged as adequate and proportional. On Thursday he had already asked the minister of internal administration for urgent explanations. Carneiro put his criticism plainly:
This prime minister and this government only work when pushed.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro asked protesters not to be selfish about public calm and order, and said police forces are usually very careful and respectful. Mayor Pedro Duarte welcomed the inquiry and said full transparency is excellent so that all the facts become known. He said phone footage shows only part of what happened.
I see it favourably. Everything that clarifies and investigates in the name of transparency and scrutiny seems very favourable to be taken to the very last circumstances.
Duarte had earlier justified the police action by pointing to provocative attitudes from protesters, without specifying them. On Friday he said the PSP had been forced to act and regretted the incident. A petition with more than 5,000 signatures calls for him to resign and demands public explanations, an independent investigation and accountability for anyone who broke the law. Duarte has played it down, saying that those who did not vote for his PSD in the last municipal elections in Porto are far more numerous.
Evidence and calls for reform
Public CCTV footage collected from cameras near the square on Thursday has been attached to a police report sent to the Porto public prosecutor's office. According to JN, the report identifies several people suspected of resistance and coercion, assault and insults, and describes events before, during and after the charge. On Thursday night, thousands joined a new demonstration that began around 19:00 and recorded one incident. A group not part of the protest was involved in a brawl, and four people who may have taken part in an assault on a demonstrator were identified on the spot by police. Early police inquiries rule out far-right membership and describe the group as Greater Porto residents known for disorder, while the camp's organisers say about 15 of them have ties to far-right movements. Amnesty International Portugal's executive director, João Godinho Martins, said there is room and evidence for an investigation into the police action. He called for structural change and pointed first to the law on night-time demonstrations.
The law that bans night-time demonstrations is a law from 1974. It is completely out of date and goes against the right to demonstrate.
Parliament and the 2020 comparison
In the Assembly of the Republic, Bloco de Esquerda MP Fabian Figueiredo accused the social-democrat majority of applying double standards. He compared the camp with a protest by the Juventude Social Democrata (JSD) on 6 October 2020, when the youth wing, then led by Alexandre Poço, camped outside the ministry of technology and higher education in Lisbon over a lack of student housing. Figueiredo asked Poço why the PSP had not dismantled that camp. In 2020 Renascença quoted Poço saying a promise of 2,500 new student beds had delivered only 64. SIC said it could not obtain comment from Poço, who has not spoken on the matter. The housing movement has called a new demonstration for Saturday, 17 October, at 10:30 in Praça D. João I, held together with the CTPJ, and João Beleza, one of its organisers, urged broad participation.
