Dozens hurt as police clear housing protest camp in Porto

Police clashed with housing rights protesters in Porto, Portugal, before dawn on Thursday, after officers moved to clear a protest camp from Praça D. João I in the city centre, Euronews reported. The Housing Movement, which organised the demonstration, said 37 people were hurt in the operation, two of them with broken bones.

The group called the police action against the camp "extreme, disproportionate and unjustified", saying in a statement cited by Euronews that the gathering had stayed calm throughout and had never turned violent. Movement representative Leonor Figueiredo told CNN Portugal there had been no grounds for officers to step in, since those present had done nothing but stand their ground peacefully.

A source at the Porto Metropolitan Command of the Public Security Police told Euronews that officers had needed to act with "a more forceful intervention", though it was too soon to give further specifics, including how many people had been hurt. The force later said the square had been completely cleared and that no one remained there.

Protesters had been staying overnight in the square since Saturday to highlight Portugal's housing crisis, returning after the city council had already cleared away an earlier set of tents. Following a public meeting on Wednesday, the group resolved to keep up the demonstration and put tents back up once night fell. Movement spokesperson Pedro Manuel said municipal cleaning vehicles were first sent in around 2am to try to clear the camp, a move protesters resisted by linking arms in a human chain; officers returned around 3am and the clashes followed when demonstrators again tried to block them from taking the tents.

Porto's mayor, Pedro Duarte, had said a day earlier that the city would tolerate no camping in the square, arguing that while the right to protest was not in dispute, it could not override the freedom of everyone else living in the city. He noted that Portuguese law generally limits demonstrations to run no later than 00:30, the Lusa news agency reported. A movement spokesperson maintained that permission for the protest had in fact been granted through 20 October.