‘City won’t stop’ as World Youth Day plans revealed // Lisbon accused of ‘sweeping the homeless under the rug’
Portuguese news in English on Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Promise ‘city won’t stop’ as World Youth Day plans revealed
Lisbon City Council has promised the “city won’t stop” as more is revealed about the efforts to accommodate an expected 1–1.5 million visitors for World Youth Day and the Pope’s visit, Diário de Notícias reports. Authorities say the worst of the effects will be felt around Parque Eduardo VII on August 1, 3 and 4 and Parque Tejo on August 5 and 6. Those impacts include the below map featuring a red zone where all automobile access will be prohibited and a yellow zone where residents, workers, pick-ups and drop-offs, public car park access, public transport, tuk-tuks, taxis and TVDE (Uber etc) will be allowed. Pedestrian access won’t be affected, except by the floods of people, but Expresso reports bicycles and e-scooters will be blocked from yellow and red areas.
Public transport offering reinforced
There will also be major changes to public transport for the event (August 1–6), with hundreds of thousands more spaces made available every day and several train and metro stations near the main event spaces closed, Expresso reports. Across trains, the Metro, buses and ferries, there should be an extra 340,000 spots on weekdays and 780,000 on the weekend of the Pope’s visit. Authorities stressed cancelled or modified services would be reallocated to reinforce availability in other areas. Avenida, Marquês de Pombal, Parque and Restauradores Metro stations will be shut from August 1–4 and Moscavide, Sacavém, Bobadela e Santa Iria will close on August 5–6. There will be massive car parks set up around the outer edges of the city for some 4000 buses expected to bring pilgrims. On top of this, organisers expect a fifth of visitors will arrive by car and say Lisbon has a good supply of parking (Usually I don’t include opinion but I seriously have my doubts on that front). The Pope’s mass is on Sunday, August 6, marking the end of the event.
Lisbon accused of ‘sweeping the homeless under the rug’
Multiple homeless people who had been sleeping rough on one of Lisbon’s main avenues believe they were moved on as a result of the Pope’s visit, Reuters reports, in English. Rita Moreira and others were told they had until last Wednesday to leave their tents and other shelters on Avenida Almirante Reis. "They (city council) are sweeping the homeless under the rug," said Moreira. "That's what they're doing to us - they're hiding us." The city council denied several “interventions” across the city were carried out because of the papal visit and said it always aimed to protect people.
‘Megaoperation’ targets suspected people trafficking ring
Six suspects have been detained in a “megaoperation” designed to dismantle a group suspected of operating a people trafficking ring across Portugal, France, Spain and Germany, Público reports. Police believe the group would collect unregularised immigrants from other European countries and bring them to Portugal in a scheme that involved 337 trips and affected 6000 migrants. In Portugal, they were to have their status legalised through SEF, something that was mostly done with false documentation, police claimed. Cynthia de Paula, from migrant help organisation Casa do Brasil, said the operation was necessary but “it’s not enough”, blaming serious delays in the migration system for “feeding these mafias”.
In brief
Police search former Social Democrat Party (PSD) president’s home. Rui Rio ironically told journalists he was “scared” that authorities, who also raided other members and the party’s headquarters, would “discover everything I stole”. (Público)
Digital nomads are sick of Lisbon. Highly qualified travellers are leaving Chiado, Graça and other central areas because they can’t compete with North Americans and Scandinavians, thus following the path of Portugues already pushed to the outskirts.
Home rents suffer biggest jump since June 2014. Year-on-year inflation slowed to 3.4% but rents continued the path they’ve been on since November 2021, up 4.64%. (Público).
TAP inquiry report approved but other processes left unresolved. Open issues include investigations into a purchase of planes and suspected payments made to administrators through a holding company, avoiding social security. (Público)
"Football leaks" hacker Rui Pinto's sentencing delayed. More than 80 of his crimes could be affected by a proposed World Youth Day amnesty but a legal expert criticised the speculation, saying the law hadn’t yet been approved. (Público)
On a lighter note
The Lisbon Metro works may be causing chaos throughout the city but at least there’s an upside (on top of the improved public transport option when the work is completed). Workers discovered a rare and important 16th century painted ceiling at the old fire station on Avenida D Carlos 1, when a piece of wood with a flower painted on it fell, Público reports. It was made for the Mosteiro de Nossa Senhora da Piedade da Esperança à Boavista, then one of the most important religious houses in the country.