“Government, listen, we want a just life,” shouted the crowd, aided by megaphones, reminding everyone that “the city is for living, not just for working.”
Arriving by buses to the center of the capital, residents from the neighborhoods of Penajóia and Raposo in Almada, Santa Marta in Seixal, Talude and Quinta do Mocho in Loures, and Estrada Militar in Amadora gathered to declare they are “united” and “strong.”
Supported by various associations and groups, signatories of the open letter chanted “the people united will never be defeated” and demanded “neither less nor more, equal rights.”
The call for the gathering was initiated by the Vida Justa movement, advocating for a national emergency plan for housing.
The open letter “Stop evictions and resolve the housing situation” has garnered more than 3,200 individual signatures and about 150 supporting organizations, demanding “real solutions” for the housing crisis.
The Vida Justa movement specifically calls for a response to the “over 90 families without homes and more than 60 children living on the streets” in the neighborhoods of Talude Militar and Estrada Militar da Mina de Água, where local authorities ordered the demolition of precarious constructions this month.
Vida Justa reports “23 shantytowns in Greater Lisbon” and notes that “more and more working families cannot afford to rent a house or even a room.”
Addressing the municipalities of Loures and Amadora, the movement regrets that “the only thing they do is criminalize working populations and place the blame on them for a criminal policy.”
Vida Justa further accuses the government and local authorities of doing nothing to solve the problem and demands “real solutions” for what it considers a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
The municipalities of Loures and Amadora, in the Lisbon district and both led by the Socialist Party, conducted demolition operations on precarious houses built by inhabitants in mid-July, sparking protests.
