Protest camp in Porto establishes social services for residents

Protesters at the Acampada in Porto have established a self-managed community hub to support a housing rights movement.

The protest movement, located in Praça D. João I, has developed a variety of social services to sustain its participants and the surrounding community. Volunteers have created a popular canteen that provides free meals to between 200 and 300 people every day.

The site also features a medical post where doctors and health professionals offer free consultations in general medicine, psychology, and psychiatry. These services provide care for both general ailments and injuries sustained during police interventions. The camp includes a dedicated space called Resistir a Brincar, which provides inclusive activities for children. Volunteers organize art projects, manual crafts, and storytelling sessions for children and parents.

This initiative aims to fill a gap in the protest, which is often dominated by adult-oriented political assemblies. On weekends, the space hosts between 30 and 35 children daily, while it sees between 10 and 20 children on weekdays. To manage the movement, participants launched a newspaper called Tendão and a website to organize work orders, assembly minutes, and first aid manuals.

The camp also hosts cultural events, including concerts by artists such as Clã and Manuel Cruz, as well as cinema sessions. These services operate through donations and volunteer efforts to maintain the site as a social center despite resources being drained by ongoing police actions.