Foreign protesters could be given 20 days to leave Portugal

The government says taking part in the housing protests won’t cost foreign residents their permits, but causing disorder could. It’s Thursday, 5 November. Nineteen degrees. Air quality: 30 to 45 (Good). Here’s what you need to know.

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FOREIGN RESIDENTS WHO CAUSE DISORDER AT THE HOUSING PROTESTS COULD LOSE THEIR PERMITS, THE GOVERNMENT WARNS

The government has warned that foreign residents who break the law at the housing protests could have their residence permits cancelled. Speaking to MPs during a budget hearing this week, Rui Armindo Freitas, the secretary of state for immigration, said foreign nationals were among those taking part in the demonstrations, and that the law governing foreigners already covers threats to public order.

Anyone whose permit is cancelled could be given 20 days to leave Portugal, he said. He was careful to say that joining a protest would not on its own be grounds for that. What would count is behaviour judged disorderly or a threat to public order, and if the rules aren’t respected, he said, the authorities should act. Reports of the hearing don’t say how that line would be drawn, or whether a court conviction would be needed first.

The warning lands nearly four weeks into protests that began on 10 October. The protesters want more public housing, an end to evictions and demolitions without rehousing, limits on investment funds buying homes, and the new rent law scrapped. Police have cleared protest camps three times since mid-October, most recently on Sunday, when roughly 100 tents came down in Lisbon and Porto and more than 24 people, protesters and officers, were injured.

There’s a different signal from the prosecutors. The Public Prosecutor’s Office says it may close its disobedience investigation into the 82 people detained during those clearances. They had been offered a provisional suspension of proceedings, a deal that avoids trial if conditions are met. Prosecutors now point to last weekend’s court ruling that let one protester keep her tent in Rossio, and to whether the police response was proportionate.

Bottom line: The government says peaceful protest isn’t the issue, but foreign residents face a penalty Portuguese citizens don’t, a cancelled permit and 20 days to leave, and it hasn’t said exactly what behaviour would trigger it.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Montenegro meets the leaders of Chega and the Socialists today to discuss housing. The prime minister announced the meetings in an address to the nation on Tuesday night, hoping to build enough support to get his rent law changes through parliament. Chega’s André Ventura wants the changes agreed by the three biggest parties. The Socialists, led by José Luís Carneiro, say a deal is possible, but want the government to drop the version it has been negotiating with Chega and start again from their own proposal. President Seguro called the talks a “window of opportunity” that has to be seized. The protest camps say they will keep going, and unions and tenants’ groups from Portugal and six other European countries have called coordinated demonstrations for 20, 21 and 22 November..

Lisbon’s mayor walked out of a council meeting after being challenged over the cost of cleaning Rossio. Carlos Moedas first said cleaning protest graffiti off the statue in Rossio cost the council €100,000. Last week he corrected the total for cleaning the square to €138,104, and it has since risen to around €150,000. In last weekend’s ruling on the Rossio tents, the judge reportedly found the council hadn’t proved its spending. At Wednesday morning’s meeting, Socialist and Left Bloc councillors demanded proof of the figures. Moedas suspended the meeting, rejected suggestions that he had lied, and left. When the meeting resumed without him, the opposition argued that his suspending it broke council rules, but his majority voted the challenge down.

Advertised rents in Lisbon rose 3.7% in a year, the smallest increase of any major Portuguese city where rents went up. Landlords in Lisbon are now asking a median €23.80 per square metre, according to property portal idealista, still the highest of Portugal’s main cities and about €2,380 a month for a 100-square-metre flat. Porto went the other way, with advertised rents down 5.6% on a year earlier, to €18.30. Across Portugal, the median rose 1% in October to €17.20, after a 6.1% jump in September. The figures are based on the prices landlords advertise, not what tenants end up signing for.

Your New Local Has 7 Golf Simulators

Playing golf near Lisbon usually takes a car, a free morning and good weather. At this bar just off Campo Pequeno, you can tee off after work, then stay for dinner and the match. And Lisbon Letter readers get their first hour at half price.

It’s called Downtown Golf Academy, Lisbon’s first indoor golf club, a sports bar and kitchen with seven TrackMan iO simulators, the same technology tour professionals use.

What you’ll find:

Seasoned golfers use it to keep their game sharp between rounds, and complete beginners come for a fun hour with friends, with beginner programmes and private lessons for anyone who wants to improve. If you’re hooked, memberships start at €85 a month, with monthly hours included, member prices on extra time, discounts on lessons and entry to the club’s leagues and tournaments.

Lisbon Letter readers get 50% off a first booking of one hour on weekdays before 5pm, for up to four players, until 5 December. Just mention LISBONLETTER when you book on WhatsApp.

→ Book on WhatsApp ←

Prefer to call or email? Ring +351 964 200 132 or email [email protected], and mention us when you book.

We only partner with businesses we’d recommend to a friend. Every click and share helps keep this newsletter free every morning.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

O BOM O MAU E O VILÃO (CAIS DO SODRÉ)

O Bom o Mau e o Vilão takes its name from the Portuguese title of Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and it fills an 18th-century apartment on Rua do Alecrim. Rather than one big bar, it’s a run of rooms, yellow, red, blue and pink, with deep sofas, soft lighting and a long list of the bar’s own cocktails.

Live music is a regular fixture, from jazz and blues to funk and soul, and once the DJ starts, the back room becomes a dance floor. The front room, lined with lioz, the pale limestone you see all over Lisbon, looks out over the street.

It has been open since 2013 and is one of the liveliest bars in Cais do Sodré early in the evening.

Worth knowing before you go: it opens in the evening, every day, and it’s a place for drinks and music rather than dinner. Expect it to get loud once the band or DJ gets going.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: check the bar’s Facebook or Instagram before you go. The line-up changes from night to night, from small live gigs and jam sessions to DJ sets, so pick the night that suits your mood.

📅 WHAT’S ON

See you tomorrow morning.

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