The protest in Portugal is part of a broader wave of housing activism spreading across Europe.
Thirty-seven participants in a housing rights protest in Porto were injured in the early hours of Thursday when police took action to end a sit-in encampment that had been occupying Praca D. Joao I since Saturday, two of them sustaining what the organizer of the protest described as serious injuries.
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“At 02:56 on Thursday, police forces intervened at the housing encampment at Praca D. Joao I, Porto, in an operation aimed at ending the protest,” said the Housing Movement (Movimento pela Habitacao).
The Housing activists also denounced that among those hurt was a person with a disability and that two people suffered fractures requiring hospitalization.
Following an emergency assembly, protesters voted to remain at the site and set up tents overnight, according to movement spokesperson Pedro Manuel.
A polícia volta a impedir as manifestações pelo direito á habitação no centro do Porto. Pelo menos 35 manifestantes ficaram feridos durante uma nova operação policial esta noite, depois do regresso da “acampada” de protesto à Praça D. João I. Vídeo: https://t.co/6SbIob8Xko pic.twitter.com/QjPA724AEm
— José Miguel Sardo (@jmsardo) October 15, 2026
The text reads, “Police have once again blocked demonstrations for the right to housing in the center of Porto. At least 35 protesters were injured during a new police operation tonight, following the return of the protest “encampment” to Don Joao I Square.”
Portugues outlet SIC Noticias mentioned that social activists were demonstrating peacefully before the police intervened against them with force.
“Mariana Guedes, of the Housing Movement, accuses the Public Security Police of having used disproportionate force during a police intervention that took place early this Thursday morning in D. Joao I Square… She asserts that the participants were demonstrating peacefully and denies that there were any provocations on the part of the protesters,” SIC Noticias reported.
“That was not a confrontation. It was an abuse of police force against peaceful citizens,” she stated, arguing that footage released by the movement shows participants with their arms raised, chanting “peaceful, peaceful” during the intervention.
The protest in Portugal is part of a broader wave of housing activism spreading across Europe. Encampments are currently active in at least 15 Spanish cities, and similar demonstrations have taken place in France, as citizens in multiple countries protest against surging rents and the lack of affordable housing.
In Portugal, housing prices rose 17.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, the highest increase in the European Union, while median rents on new contracts grew 9.1 percent in the same period.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: Xinhua – SIC Noticias
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