Dozens of residents in Lisbon protested for their “right to rest” on Thursday afternoon, October 9th, at Praça do Município, using golden emergency blankets.
The demonstration was organized by the association ‘Aqui Mora Gente’ and occurred three days ahead of the municipal elections set for Sunday, October 12th.
Images shared by Getty Images show the ‘flash mob’ in front of Lisbon City Hall. Some participants lay on the emergency blankets provided by the association.
‘Aqui Mora Gente’ explained on social media that the protest aimed to draw attention to “unbearable noise levels, insecurity, dirtiness, unsanitary conditions, degradation, and the loss of character in public spaces, as well as the operating conditions of commercial establishments.”
“The installation is not a spectacle but a necessity. It is a call for attention, a demand directed at the authorities, a mirror raised before the city itself,” emphasized the Lisbon residents’ association.
The blankets’ shiny surfaces were intended to reflect “both the surface of a vibrant city and the fatigue running through it.” “They are at once beds and signals: beds evoking thousands of sleepless nights endured by residents, and signals of alarm, declaring the emergency experienced by those suffering the consequences of inaction,” the association further explained before the demonstration.
The ‘flash mob’ also aimed, according to the residents’ association, to convey the intimacy of rest in urgent language, replacing the softness of a sheet with the cold reflection of an emergency blanket: “What should be commonplace has become a crisis; what should be private has been forced into public testimony.”
