PSP bans trucks from protesters in Porto for security reasons

The ban on a truck between the Boavista roundabout in Porto and the Crystal Palace in protest of the Together for Portugal movement was due to security concerns, a PSP source told Lusa.

A truck with a sound system and propaganda materials hinting at the demonstration that is taking place this Sunday in Porto and uniting several sectors, arrived at the Boavista roundabout at around 13:30 to lead the march, which will continue to the Palacio de Cristal, where, in At 4:00 p.m., PS Secretary General and Prime Minister António Costa was expected to arrive, but was stopped and banned from circulating.

“It was due to security issues. This decision is a security measure specific to these situations, because it is necessary to ensure that we always have free corridors for emergencies,” a source from the PSP Metropolitan Command in Porto told Lusa.

Previously, at the start of the protest, a spokesman for the Juntos Por Portugal movement, Professor Joaquim Sampaio, accused Porto’s PSP of succumbing to “outside pressure” and ensuring that the request for a truck move “was made within the legal deadline”.

On this occasion, without specifying when, a source at the Porto PSP said that the order of the Porto City Council, prohibiting the use of vehicles under this initiative, “was sent in a timely manner.”

In the end, the truck was parked at the Boavista roundabout, where a column of demonstrators with thousands of people left, from teachers to other education professionals, representatives of local accommodation, bailiffs and others.

This Sunday, Palacio de Cristal will host one of the initiatives dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Portuguese Socialist Party.

Meanwhile, a source from Together for Portugal told the Lusa news agency that the PSP had identified demonstrators who managed to get inside the Palacio de Cristal.