Many thousands of demonstrators held marches in more than 20 cities in Portugal on Saturday to protest against government-imposed austerity measures aimed at lifting the ailing country out of recession.
Tens of thousands filled a Lisbon boulevard leading to the Portuguese Ministry of Finance carrying placards reading: “Screw the troika, we want our lives back.”
The troika refers to the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank — the lenders behind the country’s financial bailout.
Many protesters were singing a 40-year-old song linked to a 1974 popular uprising known as the Carnation Revolution. Some waved handkerchiefs in a symbolic gesture, saying goodbye to the government.
“If the government pays attention to what is happening and understands that the people are against them, they should get out,” 65-year-old Serafin Lobato said. “If not, this won’t stop.”
Portugal is expected to endure a third straight year of recession this year, with a 2 percent contraction. The overall jobless rate has grown to a record 17.6 percent.
The marches were powered mostly by young people. Unemployment among people under 25 is close to 40 percent.
The country’s largest trade union, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers, which has about 600,000 members, also supported the marches and swelled numbers.
After several years of tax increases and welfare cuts, austerity is poised to deepen as the government looks for another 4 billion euros (US$5.2 billion) to cut over the next two years, with the national health service, education, pensioners and government workers likely to be the hardest hit.
“There is no future without education, there is no future without culture,” 23-year-old student Ana Julia said. “We have to protest to get back what they are trying to take away from us.”
The government is locked into debt-cutting measures in return for the 78 billion euro financial rescue set up in 2011. More tax hikes this year sliced another chunk off wages.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was