Tens of thousands of people rallied in Portugal on Saturday against the government’s austerity measures, protest organizers said, amid projections that the economic situation was far worse than expected.
Government and private sector workers demonstrated in Lisbon and Porto, following a call by the country’s largest trade union federation to speak out against policies it says threaten “jobs, workers, pensions and social rights.”
Rally organizers claimed 130,000 people demonstrated in Lisbon and 50,000 turned out in Porto. The police did not provide an estimate of the crowd, but local media tallies said the figures were inflated.
“It is time to change course,” said Manuel Carvalho da Silva, secretary general of the organizing CGTP union federation, during a rally closing speech.
“We need a political alternative,” he said, calling for a “week of action” against “impoverishment and injustice,” the watchwords of Saturday’s protest.
He called for more strikes on Oct. 20 and Oct. 27.
In April, Portugal became the third eurozone country after Greece and Ireland to request an emergency bailout from the EU the IMF to deal with its mountain of debt.
In exchange for 78 billion euros (US$106 billion) the country agreed to impose reforms demanded by its creditors, including tough budget cutting measures.
Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s right-of-center government, which unseated the Socialists in the June general election, has promised further austerity, which is favored by the EU and IMF, but loathed by those demonstrating on Saturday.
“No to the IMF’s interference,” read another banner, which included the line: “We are saying no to this program of aggression.”
Last month, Portugal unveiled plans for a slimmed-down central administration, that included the axing of 1,700 managerial posts from the state administration and 137 public companies.
Demonstrator Rafael Lourno, who works at the Portuguese finance ministry said the public sector job cuts and privatization plans government claims are needed to manage its debt amounted to “a frontal assault against the rights of workers.”
While holding a megaphone, Lourno pointed specifically to a plan to reduce severance pay to 20 days per year worked, down from 30 days.
“I am fighting not only for my rights, but also for the rights of my children and grandchildren,” said a retiree, who came to Lisbon on one of the chartered buses.
Last week, Portugal said its economy could contract by a more than anticipated 2.5 percent of GDP next year because of a far gloomier global economic outlook.
In a statement issued ahead of the rally, the CGTP said that it was the government’s policy decisions that have hampered economic recovery. However, Portuguese Parliamentary Affairs Minister Miguel Relvas said on Saturday that the austerity “track” Portugal was on “is not reversible.”
“We are going to continue to ask for sacrifices from the Portuguese people,” he said.
The government said on Friday that it would announce by the middle of this month a new set of austerity measures for next year’s budget.
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