Portuguese march against austerity

Submitted by Matthew on 6 March, 2013 - 12:55

The demonstrations that took place on Saturday 2 March in Portugal once again beat all the previous records for participation in this country that is on life support, severely affected by the crisis, and austerity measures imposed by the “Troika” (the IMF, European Union and European Central Bank).

Under the banner “Que se lixe a Troika!” (an expression that can be translated as “screw the Troika!”), the wave of anger brought together more than 1.5 million people in towns both large and small. As far as the eye could see a veritable tidal wave where several groups in struggle (artists, pensioners, unemployed, workers...) converged.

In Lisbon, 800,000 people demonstrated singing “Grândola, Vila Morena” (a famous song of the Carnation Revolution of April 1974) and chanting slogans such as “The people united will never be defeated”, “Down with this government now”, “Spain, Greece, Ireland and Portugal: our fight is international”, “The street belongs to us” and “The struggle continues, down with the Troika”.

In Porto, 400,000 people took part in the largest demonstration in the city’s history. In Coimbra, 20,000 people demonstrated. In Braga, 7,000 people, likewise in Aveiro.

In Vila Real, 1,800 people also demanded the resignation of the government made up of PSD [Social Democratic Party — despite its name, a centre-right party] and CDS-PP [Democratic and Social Centre-People's Party — a centre-right, Christian Democrat party].

In Caldas da Rainha there were nearly 3,000 people, likewise in Leiria, and 3,500 in Marinha Grande; 2,000 in Viseu; 6,000 in Faro and 5,000 in Portimão.

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