Other camps, the crisis and the protests
An unjust charge
Batons and dogs against people asking for a home they can afford, in a country where housing has become unaffordable and where other camps were almost always left alone.
When others camped, the police let them stay
Sleeping in the street in protest is nothing new in Portugal. Taxi drivers, teachers, firefighters, restaurant owners, the youth wing of the party now in government and even police officers have done it, some for weeks. In almost every case, the police did not intervene.
-
2011May – June
The Indignados camp · Rossio, Lisbon
Around a hundred young people, inspired by Spain's 15M movement, camped for two weeks for "real democracy". On 4 June the police charged, took tents and banners and arrested three people.
Removed by force · 3 arrested -
2018September
Students from out of town · University of Porto rectorate
Porto's student federation camped for two days in Praça Gomes Teixeira against the price of student rooms.
No intervention -
201819 – 26 September
Taxi drivers against the "Uber law" · Restauradores and Avenida da Liberdade, Lisbon
More than a thousand taxis, according to the organisers, occupied Avenida da Liberdade and Restauradores for a week, day and night, before marching to Parliament.
No intervention -
2020October
JSD · Ministry of Higher Education, Lisbon
The youth wing of the PSD, the party now in government, camped for a night outside the ministry over the lack of student residences. The protest was led by Alexandre Poço, then president of the JSD and today a vice-president of the PSD.
No intervention -
2020November
Restaurants: "Surviving on bread and water" · Parliament
Restaurant and nightclub owners camped for seven days outside Parliament, on hunger strike, asking for pandemic support.
No intervention -
2023January
Fenprof teachers · Ministry of Education, Lisbon
Teachers camped next to the ministry during their fight to have their years of service recognised.
No intervention -
2023April – May
STOP teachers · Rossio and Largo de Camões, Lisbon
Around 30 tents pitched in the same Rossio square, later moved to Largo de Camões, where they stayed for about a week.
No intervention -
2024January – February
PSP and GNR police officers · Steps of Parliament
Dozens of officers spent nights on the steps of Parliament demanding a risk allowance; on one night there were 80. On 19 February, hundreds surrounded the Capitólio theatre in a protest that had not been notified. The Public Prosecutor closed its inquiry and the police closed 39 of 43 disciplinary cases.
No intervention -
2024from 7 Sept
-
202624 March
Técnico students · Alameda, Lisbon
On Students' Day, students from Instituto Superior Técnico camped for a night against the price of rooms.
No intervention
Meanwhile, in Madrid
-
2026since 26 September
Acampada 26S · Puerta del Sol, Madrid
The housing camp that inspired the Portuguese ones was still standing in mid-October. Madrid's regional government asked twice for it to be cleared and the regional High Court refused both times. The court cited the right of assembly and proportionality, and called dispersing a demonstration a "last resort".
Protected by the courts
In October 2026, the police justified the interventions with the rule that demonstrations in public spaces cannot go on past 00:30. We found no report of the same rule being applied to the firefighters, the teachers or the police officers themselves. Sábado
A country where you can't afford a home
In no OECD country has buying a home become so much harder since 2015 as in Portugal. Within the European Union, prices here are rising three to four times faster than the average, and renting in Lisbon costs more than one and a half minimum wages.
Buying a home relative to income, in Portugal
OECD index of house prices relative to household income · 2015 = 100 · higher means less affordable
In 2025, buying a home in Portugal was 66.7% harder, relative to income, than in 2015. It is the worst change among the 33 OECD countries compared, as it had already been in 2023 and 2024.
House prices versus wages in Portugal
Increase over ten years, 2014 to 2024 · Statistics Portugal (INE)
In ten years, house prices rose four times as much as the average wage and twice as much as the minimum wage.
Rise in house prices since 2015
2015 to Q4 2025 (EU average to Q3) · the four largest rises in the EU · Eurostat
House prices in Portugal nearly tripled in ten years, almost three times the European average rise.
And they keep rising faster than anywhere else
Rise in one year · Q2 2026 compared with Q2 2025 · Eurostat
And rents
Rent of a two-bedroom flat compared with the minimum wage in EU capitals
Average two-bedroom rent as a percentage of the minimum wage · 2026 · 21 capitals · the dashed line is one full minimum wage
In Lisbon, a two-bedroom flat costs on average €1,798 a month, against a minimum wage of €1,073 a month (€920 paid 14 times a year). Only in Brussels, Berlin, Nicosia, Luxembourg and The Hague does the minimum wage cover the rent.
Tenants overburdened by rent
Tenants paying market rent who spend more than 40% of their income on housing · 2025 · Eurostat
More than one in four tenants in Portugal spends over 40% of what they earn just on housing (the year before, it was 30.3%).
Portugal has the most overvalued housing in the European Union, around 25% above what fundamentals justify, according to the European Commission.
Average age at which young people leave their parents' home in Portugal, against 26.2 in the EU. Eurostat links this delay to the cost of housing.
Of homes in Portugal are social housing (INE, 2015). In the Netherlands it is 29%; in Austria, around 24%.
And faced with this, what does the government do
Instead of curbing rents, the government proposed a new rental law (Bill 103/XVII). It was approved in principle on 30 September with the votes of PSD, IL and CDS and Chega abstaining; PS, Livre, PCP, BE, PAN and JPP voted against. Almost every measure gives more power to landlords.
- Free rent in new contracts. The cap on rent when one contract ends and another begins is removed: landlords can ask whatever they want.
- Earlier eviction. Landlords can start eviction after two months of unpaid rent instead of three. Paying eight days late three times in a year also counts as default.
- More time for the landlord, less for the tenant. Landlords get six months instead of three to decide to end the contract for non-payment. After a court ruling, eviction and rent recovery are handled in a single process, with fewer formalities.
- More money up front. Deposits and rent paid in advance can be negotiated more freely, which, in a market with no homes, means whatever the landlord demands.
- Less stable contracts. Automatic renewal of contracts becomes easier to exclude.
- The State guarantees the landlord. During eviction proceedings, the State pays the landlord the rent as it falls due.
And for tenants? A Housing Emergency Fund that pays between €537 and €2,300 a month, for at most six months, to people who lose their home. It is temporary support for after an eviction, not a way to prevent it. The government also promises to keep protecting tenants aged 65 or over with contracts from before 1990, on terms yet to be defined.
The Lisbon Tenants' Association points out that non-payment affects around 1% of contracts and calls speeding up evictions a "false issue". To pass the law, the PSD agreed with Chega to revise the deposit rules and protect older tenants with old contracts.
And how the people respond
Assemblies, concerts, a community kitchen, people sleeping. Even the police praised the civic and responsible way people demonstrated.
-
25 Oct · the police themselves
In a statement, the police said the right to demonstrate had been guaranteed and praised "the civic and responsible way" people took part in the demonstrations of 24 October.
-
24 – 25 Oct · Lusa
The demonstrations in Lisbon and Porto were peaceful and without incident until the police intervened, according to the Lusa news agency.
-
20 Oct · Rossio, before 6 am
A journalist on the scene described a calm, quiet atmosphere: groups talking, people asleep in tents, a central tent with food and medicine. According to the organisers, the police went in while most people were asleep.
-
15 Oct · Porto
According to people who were there, the campers had already packed away their tents when the charge began.
-
25 Oct · independent observers
Amnesty International had observers on the ground and speaks of excessive and disproportionate use of batons against protesters.
What the police say, and the response
- 20 Oct · The police say they warned people from midnight.
- The police asked people to leave at midnight, but the three dispersal warnings came at 5:48, 5:54 and 6:02 am, and force six minutes later. According to the organisers, most people were asleep. Lisboa Para Pessoas
- 20 Oct · The police say those arrested formed a human chain and resisted.
- A human chain with linked arms is passive resistance, a classic form of peaceful protest. Amnesty recalls that dispersing a peaceful protest must be a last resort. DNAmnesty
- 25 Oct · The police say three officers were injured, that paint cans were thrown at officers in Porto and that they seized a firecracker and pepper spray.
- That night the police counted 11 injured, three of them officers, but São José and Santa Maria hospitals alone treated at least 27 in Lisbon; the organisers count dozens. In our view, these incidents do not make violent a protest that Lusa describes as peaceful until the police intervened. Police statement, via CNNHospitals, via CNN
- The president of the National Union of Police Officers, Bruno Pereira, says the 1974 decree is in force until the Constitutional Court says otherwise.
- The Constitutional Court has never assessed it. That is why there is a petition asking the Ombudsman to send it there. Lusa / Notícias ao Minuto
On 14 November, the streets
There is a national housing demonstration in several cities.
See whereNext: What to do →