The Porto Metropolitan Command of the Public Security Police (PSP) said Tuesday it had no knowledge of plainclothes officers identifying or detaining demonstrators as they left Praça D. João I on Monday night, an allegation reported by organizers of the Porto encampment movement.
“I have no knowledge that this happened. I have no report here” of such an incident, a PSP Porto public relations representative told Lusa. The representative also said they knew of no incidents at the square and described the demonstrators’ overnight stay as orderly. About 20 tents remained at the site early Tuesday, the source added.
Ricardo Salazar, a lawyer providing legal support to the movement, told journalists Monday night that organizers had received reports of people being asked to show identification and detained as they left the square, then taken to a police station. He said photographs were reportedly shown at the station for people to identify others.
Salazar also relayed claims that plainclothes officers were identifying people at hospitals where they had gone for treatment, while stressing that the information was unconfirmed. He warned that, if true, the alleged actions would be serious and could threaten protest rights and the rule of law.
At a recent popular assembly, demonstrators were given guidance on how to respond if detained or asked for identification by officers, whether in plain clothes or uniform.
The allegations follow a PSP operation early Sunday that dispersed housing-rights encampments at Lisbon’s Rossio and Praça D. João I in Porto, removing about 100 tents. The operation involved police charges and objects being thrown, leaving more than 20 protesters and officers injured. Seven people were detained in Porto.
The encampments began in Porto on October 10. Protesters are calling for the reversal of the new rental law, an end to demolitions and evictions without alternative housing, limits on property purchases by real estate funds, more public housing, the conversion of vacant properties for residential use, and rents they consider genuinely affordable.
Sources: Observador.