Portugal Police Clear Housing Protest Camps in Lisbon and Porto, Arrest 55

Portuguese police moved in before dawn on Tuesday to clear two protest camps set up by housing activists in Lisbon and Porto, arresting 55 people in coordinated operations.
Activists had occupied Lisbon's Rossio square since Saturday, pitching around 200 tents, while the camp in Porto's Dom Joao I square had stood for about 10 days. The protests targeted Portugal's deepening housing crisis and a government bill that would make evictions easier and scrap rent caps on new leases.
Shortly before 6 a.m., officers warned the campers that their occupations were illegal and then moved in. In Porto, protesters took down their own tents; in Lisbon, police cleared Rossio square themselves. A spokesperson for the Lisbon camp, Carla Valadao, called the operation "very aggressive" and vowed the protest would resume at 7 p.m. Police superintendent Sergio Soares described the eviction as "calm, proportionate and appropriate," saying 55 people were detained for refusing to leave and two minor injuries were treated.
Portugal is facing one of Europe's worst housing affordability crises. Purchase prices have more than doubled since 2017, and rents on new leases have nearly doubled. The camps echoed similar housing protests in neighboring Spain and coincided with cost-of-living unrest in France, Belgium and Italy.
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