Thousands of people filled Rua de São Bento, in Lisbon, yesterday, where they echoed the demand for “a fair life” and gathered together at the Assembly of the Republic, where they demanded “to be part of the decision” and “concrete policies” to respond to the crisis .
“Oh, Costa, listen, we want a fair life”, shouted the thousands of participants in the protest, directing this message to the Prime Minister, António Costa, stressing that “the struggle continues”, “the struggle is collective” and “the voice of the people is the supreme voice”.
Promoted by the civic movement Vida Justa, the demonstration began at 15:00 pm in Praça Marquês de Pombal, where hundreds of people gathered, started around 15:45 pm, when rain began to threaten the mobilization, but without success, and arrived at the parliament at around 17:00 pm with “about 10 people”, according to data from the organization.
“All and all, for a fair life” was the phrase that headed the course of the demonstration, which was attended by people of all ages, including families, coming from various areas of Greater Lisbon, and which was attended by deputies from BE, PCP and Livre in the Assembly of the Republic.
Among the various posters erected at the protest, one was held by an elderly woman in a wheelchair: “I was forced to come out into the street and scream”.
The right to housing was one of the main problems pointed out throughout the protest: “The house is expensive, we want a fair life”.
Holding up a sign saying “The city to those who work in it. 25 de Abril always”, Alice Figueiredo, 26 years old, came from Setúbal, where she lives with her parents after a couple of years moving from house to house in Lisbon, the city where she wants to live again, but that desire has been “almost impossible” to accomplish.
"I'm a doctor, I get paid well, but even so, you can't find a house in Lisbon", the young woman told Lusa, defending that civil society must be heard and that policies must be "less tax benefits for foreigners and more rent price control”, so that housing ceases to be a market and becomes, effectively, a right.
This young woman's boyfriend, Afonso Anjos, 27, shared the same concerns, noting that he also lives in Setúbal and works in Lisbon and spends two and a half hours a day on public transport, because the desire to live in the capital "even in couple is difficult” and “alone is impossible”.
“You cannot save. You live to work”, complained this young man, with a master's degree in engineering, who earns 1.000 euros a month, with a precarious work contract.
From the neighborhood of Cova da Moura, in Amadora, district of Lisbon, Elisa Veiga, 42 years old, accompanied by her 7-year-old daughter, complained about the problem of access to housing, saying that she was forced to leave the house where she lives and not managed to find an alternative, being forced to live at her sister's house.
“Costa, did you live on 700 euros gross?” reads the poster that Carla Isidoro, 49, held up during the protest. Coming from Oeiras, a district of Lisbon, she decided to participate to demonstrate “against price increases”.
Carla Isidoro complained about “low wages in Portugal, in general, in relation to the cost of living”, indicating that she is self-employed and “almost 50%” of what she earns goes to taxes and Social Security, which considered it to be “an unaffordable tax burden”.
“If we don't eat, we don't live”, “Fed up with surviving, we want to live” and “Increase everything, except wages” were some of the complaints that became visible on the posters erected during the protest.
The demonstrators were in front of the Assembly of the Republic until around 18:00 pm, but had to leave after that time to make way for the protest of teachers and non-teaching workers, organized by the Union of All Education Professionals (Stop), which began at 14:00 next to the Palace of Justice.
The manifesto of the civic movement Vida Justa, which is in the process of collecting signatures, warns that “every day prices rise, evictions from houses increase and wages are given for fewer days of the month”.
“People are choosing whether to heat their homes or eat”, reads the document, in which subscribers demand a crisis program that “defends those who work”, that the prices of energy and essential food products are regulated , interest on frozen bank loans, prohibited evictions, in addition to wage increases above inflation and measures to support trade and small businesses.
Comments