Portugal police remove 171 housing protest structures

Portugal's police removed 171 structures from housing protest camps in Lisbon and Porto early Sunday and arrested 31 people, The Guardian reported in an Oct. 25 news article.

The Sunday operation hit more than 100 tents in Lisbon's Rossio Square and about 50 in Porto's Dom João I Square, the article said, as Portugal's house prices have more than doubled since 2017.

Police said on social media that the arrests were for disobedience and described the operation as proportionate. Officers said they had first called on people in the camps to leave voluntarily, according to The Guardian.

Eleven people were injured, including three police officers, police said. Reuters, cited by The Guardian, reported that 25 people detained in Lisbon had been released with orders to appear in court on Monday.

Casa Para Viver, a housing campaign group whose name means A Home to Live in, disputed the police account. It said more than 20 people were injured and accused police of entering the camps with batons, dogs and rubber bullets.

“Choosing the early morning to deploy police dogs and fire rubber bullets at people who were sleeping or peacefully protesting is a political decision,” the group said in a statement quoted by The Guardian. “It shows that this government would rather crack down on those who speak out against the housing crisis than solve the crisis itself.”

Fabian Figueiredo, a Left Bloc member of parliament, criticised the police response in a social-media post. “Fighting for a home is a right. So is peaceful protest.

The constitution guarantees both,” he said, according to The Guardian.

The Lisbon camp followed a march by thousands of people in the capital against housing prices that campaigners say have moved beyond average incomes. Similar protest camps in Portugal were inspired by encampments in Spain, according to The Guardian.

Portugal's housing protest camps began in early October, when campaigners pitched tents in Porto and police cleared them. Related actions later appeared in Lisbon, followed by more arrests and reported injuries as police and campaigners clashed.

Housing affordability has become a focus of protest in parts of Europe, especially Spain and Portugal. The Guardian reported that Portuguese rents have nearly doubled, adding to one of Europe's sharper affordability pressures.

Residents and campaigners have linked the strain to liberalisation, golden visas, digital-nomad schemes and short-term rentals. Golden visas are residency rights granted through investment, while digital-nomad schemes allow foreign remote workers to live in a country under dedicated visa rules.

Campaigners are also urging Portugal's centre-right government to drop proposed legislation, recently approved in a first parliamentary reading, that would ease evictions and end rent caps on new leases.

The Portuguese confrontations come as authorities in several European countries respond to wider unrest. Atlas360 reported Sunday that France deployed 70,000 police as protests spread across Europe, with disturbances also reported in Spain, Italy, Albania, Portugal and Belgium.

Court dates and protest calendar

• Monday: Reuters, cited by The Guardian, reported that 25 people detained in Lisbon were released with orders to appear in court.

• Wednesday: Casa Para Viver called for further protests after disputing the police injury figures and accusing officers of using dogs, batons and rubber bullets.

• Nov. 29: Spain is scheduled to hold early general elections after a housing protest movement there became a major political issue, according to The Guardian.

Source: news article, The Guardian, Oct. 25, 2026; Atlas360 background report, Oct. 25, 2026