228 tents gone. Lisbon’s housing protest is far from over.

Rossio’s tents came down before dawn yesterday, and protesters say they’re going back up today. It’s Wednesday, 21 October. Twenty-one degrees. Air quality: 26 (Good). Here’s what you need to know.

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POLICE CLEAR ROSSIO’S HOUSING CAMP, DETAINING 55

Just before 6am yesterday, the PSP, the Public Security Police, moved on the housing camps in Lisbon’s Rossio and Porto’s Praça D. João I, after warning protesters that camping in the squares was illegal. In Lisbon, officers took down 228 tents and detained 55 people for refusing to leave. Police said two people had minor injuries, which were treated at the scene.

Porto was calmer. Protesters there had held the square since 10 October. They pushed back at first, then packed up their own tents once police gave them time to collect their things. No arrests were reported.

Rossio was tenser. Euronews reported that objects were thrown at officers and that the PSP’s special police unit was brought in. The two sides describe the morning very differently. Camp spokesperson Priscila Valadão called the operation “very aggressive”. PSP superintendent Sérgio Soares said it had been calm and proportionate, with no police charge. Lisbon’s mayor, Carlos Moedas, backed the police, saying they had acted proportionately, while also calling housing a just cause.

The square didn’t stay empty for long. By early evening, thousands had filled half of Rossio for a public assembly, watched by PSP and municipal police on every side, before fado singer Ana Moura performed. At around 8:30pm, the assembly voted to put the tents back up in Rossio from today. That sets up another standoff with the PSP, which has said the camp cannot stay. In Porto, protesters also returned to Praça D. João I last night. Organisers in Lisbon say they’ll keep meeting in Rossio every evening at 7pm.

What happens next starts today. The 55 people detained have since been released as arguidos, formal suspects, and ordered to appear before a judge at the Campus de Justiça, Lisbon’s main courts complex, today. In parliament, the speaker turned down a renewed request from Livre, the left-wing party, for an urgent debate on housing today, citing the rules on how often such debates can be held.

The bigger fight is over the government’s rental bill, the protesters’ main target. It would let landlords start eviction proceedings after two months of unpaid rent instead of three, scrap the 2% cap on rent rises in new contracts, allow three months’ rent upfront instead of two, and remove the limit on deposits. It cleared its first vote on 30 September only because Chega, the far-right party, abstained after signing a deal with the governing Social Democrats to rewrite parts of it. It now goes to committee, where those changes will be negotiated over the coming months, before a final vote in parliament. If it passes, President António José Seguro can sign it, veto it or send it to the Constitutional Court. Housing groups have also called marches in Lisbon and Porto for 14 November.

If you’re in the Baixa this evening, expect crowds and a police presence around Rossio from 7pm.

Bottom line: Clearing Rossio hasn’t ended the protest, and the rental bill it targets still faces months of committee talks and a final vote.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Ryanair’s chief executive has forecast the steepest rise in European airfares on record. Speaking in Brussels yesterday, Michael O’Leary said fares could climb by 10 to 20% over the next year, as airline bankruptcies and takeovers thin out the competition. Fuel is the other pressure. Jet fuel prices have surged since the war in Iran began in late February. Most European airlines bought their 2026 fuel at fixed prices before the conflict, but O’Leary warned that most have little protection from April 2027. Ryanair itself has fixed only 15% of next year’s fuel, at $85 a barrel, with market prices around double that.

The Metro Transportes do Sul strike is in its second full day today. Drivers on the light rail network serving Almada and Seixal walked out yesterday over pay and conditions, after two and a half years of talks on a new company agreement failed to produce a deal. From tomorrow until 27 October, the strike switches to stoppages in the last two hours of each shift. Minimum services keep Line 3 (Cacilhas to Universidade) running from 7am to 9am and 5pm to 7pm throughout. Line 2 passengers are advised to change at Bento Gonçalves for Lines 1 and 3. The company called the strike disproportionate.

Household net wealth in Portugal has risen 67% since 2010. A Bank of Portugal analysis puts it at €1.196 trillion in 2025, up €480 billion, driven mainly by property and financial assets. Measured against the size of the economy, though, it has barely moved, slipping ten points to around 390% of GDP. Homes are still the biggest share, worth €708 billion against €473 billion in 2010. The wealth is lopsided: the richest 10% of households hold 59% of it and the poorest half hold 6%. The median household is now worth €104,000, still only 69% of the euro-area median.

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

CENÁRIO (CAMPO PEQUENO)

For 18 years, the building at 197 Avenida 5 de Outubro was the headquarters of RTP, Portugal’s public broadcaster. Today it’s a five-star hotel, and Cenário, the restaurant behind the orange glass wall at the entrance, still plays on its past. The menu is written as a “gastronomic script”, split into chapters like Bastidores (Backstage), Emissão de Abertura (Opening Broadcast) and, for dessert, Última Emissão (Final Broadcast). When chef António Mendes arrived from Viseu, the hotel kept only the name and replaced the team, the kitchen and the concept. His stated aim was to make it the best restaurant on the avenue.

The cooking runs the length of the country. A sardine fillet is marinated in vinha d’alhos, a garlic and wine marinade, then breaded, fried and served with gazpacho. The pastel de massa tenra, a pastry stuffed with oxtail and served with demi-glace and a mustard pickle. “Terra negra do mar” pairs sea bass with miso, black rice, a poached oyster, seaweed and pickled red onion, and the oven-baked rice comes with smoked beef shank, chicken or pork neck. There are two vegan mains, and dessert brings a 100% cacao mousse, or burnt leite creme with rabanada, Portugal’s take on French toast.

Reviews put the cooking well ahead of the setting. The complaints that come up are that it feels like a hotel dining room, often quiet at lunch, and that the service is polished but cool rather than warm. The praise goes mostly to the food, with diners singling out original flavours and careful execution.

Worth knowing before you go: it’s open every day for lunch, from 12:30pm to 3pm, and dinner, from 7pm to 10:30pm, which makes it a useful option on a Sunday or Monday when plenty of places are shut. The hotel recommends booking by phone, on 21 043 5000.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: on weekdays, the kitchen runs a set lunch with a starter, a meat or fish main and dessert, which is a quicker and cheaper way to try it than the à la carte.

📅 WHAT’S ON

See you tomorrow morning.

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