Engels Amaral stated that several families remain sleeping in the neighborhood without “any alternative.” “The families have received food support in recent days due to the campaign launched by Vida Justa. As for the Loures City Council, there have been no developments, but social workers visited the neighborhood yesterday,” he said.
Amaral also mentioned that a cleanup would take place starting at 9:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday in the Bairro do Talude Militar. “We appeal to all who wish to help to come to the neighborhood to assist in the cleanup work,” he added.
The municipalities of Loures and Amadora conducted operations this week to demolish illegal precarious housing, displacing several families in both districts. Loures began a demolition operation on Monday, targeting 64 buildings home to 161 people in the Bairro do Talude Militar.
On the first day, 51 constructions were demolished, but operations were suspended on the second day following a court injunction by 14 residents. In Amadora, at Estrada Militar da Mina de Água in the former Santa Filomena neighborhood, demolition is planned for all 22 illegal constructions, housing approximately 30 adults and 14 children and young people.
On Thursday, the Vida Justa movement also accused the Odivelas municipality and the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU) of conducting evictions without providing housing alternatives, a claim confirmed by two residents from the Urmeira neighborhood.
The open letter released by Vida Justa regarding the situation in Bairro do Talude Militar in Loures states: “Also in Odivelas, in Urmeira, the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU), together with the municipality, has been promoting evictions without offering housing alternatives.”
According to Engels Amaral, in less than 24 hours, more than two thousand people and 60 organizations signed the open letter against evictions in the municipalities of Amadora, Loures, and Odivelas and demanded a solution. “We demand the immediate suspension of evictions in light of the crisis of insufficient housing responses. We demand a national emergency housing program and rehousing for families without homes or at risk of eviction,” he stated.
