LISBON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-seven participants in a housing rights protest in Porto were injured in the early hours of Thursday when police took action to end a sit-in encampment that had been occupying Praca D. Joao I since Saturday, two of them sustaining what the organizer of the protest described as serious injuries.
"At 02:56 (0156 GMT) on Thursday, police forces intervened at the housing encampment at Praca D. Joao I, Porto, in an operation aimed at ending the protest," the Movimento pela Habitacao said in a statement, adding that among those hurt was a person with a disability and that two people suffered fractures requiring hospitalization.
Following an emergency assembly, protesters voted to remain at the site and set up tents overnight, according to movement spokesperson Pedro Manuel.
The protest in Portugal is part of a broader wave of housing activism spreading across Europe. Encampments are currently active in at least 15 Spanish cities, and similar demonstrations have taken place in France, as citizens in multiple countries protest against surging rents and the lack of affordable housing.
In Portugal, housing prices rose 17.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, the highest increase in the European Union, while median rents on new contracts grew 9.1 percent in the same period. ■