Loures, Portugal, July 16, 2025 (Lusa) - The Loures Municipal Council confirmed on Wednesday that it demolished four illegal buildings in the Talude Militar neighbourhood on Tuesday, before the court ordered a suspension following an injunction filed by residents.
The local authority in the Lisbon district began on Monday an operation to demolish 64 makeshift dwellings built by the residents in Talude Militar, where 161 people live.
Workers demolished 51 buildings on the first day and four more on Tuesday morning (before suspending work), a council source told the Lusa news agency. This brings the total number of demolitions to 55.
The Vida Justa (Fair Life) movement, which has been supporting the residents, had already reported on Tuesday that workers had destroyed at least four buildings.
On Tuesday, the local authority announced in a statement that it had taken one of the 51 families from the Bairro do Talude Militar neighbourhood “to a reception centre” and two others “to a hotel”.
Lusa contacted the municipality today, and a source from the municipality, led by Ricardo Leão (PS), stated that on the first day, the municipality provided support for one night to a couple with two minors and a single-parent family with one minor. The municipality is now considering other options.
“The third family, who planned to stay at the shelter and whose support the ISS [Social Security Institute] provided, decided otherwise,” and they returned to the Talude Militar neighbourhood, he said.
Following the operations the team carried out on Monday, the local authority clarified that on that day, of the 51 families occupying the precarious buildings the council demolished, “24 went to the municipal council’s social services”.
The government also said that it “provided food support and presented the possibility that the council will guarantee the payment of one month’s deposit and another month’s rent, as support for renting on the housing market”.
The Vida Justa movement reported on Monday that the evicted families would spend the night in tents in the area and in a local church. Still, on Tuesday, it explained that 90% slept “in the open, on mattresses, in the neighbourhood”.
The municipality provided no further details on the housing situation of the remaining families. It recalled that the operations planned for Tuesday had been suspended by order of the Lisbon Administrative Court “on a provisional basis”, following an injunction, and that it would “comply fully with the decision”.
The local authority reaffirmed on Tuesday that “it will always insist that the perception of precarious housing as a legitimate response to this problem must not take hold; it will also ensure that the illegal construction of shacks never provides an automatic route to the allocation of public housing”.
The waiting list for housing applications from people “registered and assessed under the law” currently stands at around 1,000.
The precarious constructions, it added, “require urgent attention to ensure safety, public health and dignity for their occupants and the community in general”.
DD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
