The Portuguese protested against the high cost of housing.
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, property prices in Portugal have increased by more than 75 percent since 2010, while rents have risen by almost 25 percent.
In Lisbon and other Portuguese cities, thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday to have the right to housing and to protest against these high prices and demand more affordable housing and social housing. Demonstrators’ banners read: “Housing: Everyone’s Right” or “Right or Privilege?”
Ana Reyes da Silva, a 32-year-old lawyer who has lived in the Portuguese capital for about 10 years, says: “I live in constant fear that my landlord will announce a brutal rent increase.”
Martinio Fayas Parreira, a 72-year-old retiree, said: “Rent must remain affordable.” He lives in a social apartment in Lisbon, the rent of which has risen sharply in recent years.
Demonstrators demanded the constitutional right to have an apartment for everyone. These protests were called by various associations and organizations.
Amid a crisis in the housing market, Portugal’s government on Thursday approved a plan aimed at increasing the number of homes available in a country with 730,000 vacant or at risk of demolition.
One of the main actions of the government is to stop the issuance of the so-called golden visa, which gives the right of residence to wealthy investors.
Of course, the protesters do not consider these actions of the government to be enough.
