About three dozen people gathered in Lisbon to protest against the increase in the cost of living and to ask the Government to take measures to “lower the price of basic necessities”.
The demonstrators gathered in Largo de São Domingos, in the Rossio area, in Lisbon, armed with posters and banners to echo in unison slogans against inflation and “price gouging”, saying that “they can’t always pay themselves”.
“First it was the crisis, then the covid and now it is the war. We go to the supermarket and everything is more expensive. We do not want, once again, to pay for a crisis that is not our fault. They can’t always be the same,” Pedro Lago, one of those responsible for the “The same as always paying” movement, told the Lusa news agency.
According to Pedro Lago, “precarious” wages and the reforms make these increases “unbearable” and, in this sense, he defends a “more effective” intervention by the Government.
“The little support from the government will be of little use if prices are not set. It is urgent to fix the prices of food, fuel and rents. Salaries and reforms and pensions must be raised”, he defended.
One of the participants in this demonstration was the young Rodrigo Figueiredo, 19, who expressed his concern to Lusa about the increase in the cost of living.
“It is urgent to lower VAT, increase wages and give people more dignity. As a young person, I feel that my future cannot be bright,” she noted.
Along the same lines, Sertório Tecurto, 70, warned about the difficulties experienced by young people and retirees, expressing himself “quite apprehensive”.
“I look at the difficulties that I feel every time I go to the supermarket, because my retirement is low, but also the difficulties that my granddaughters feel. One of them has already signed 14 precarious work contracts. There is also the problem of the price of rents. We also ended up having to help them,” she said.
This Saturday, protest actions by the same movement are also planned in the districts of Porto, Leiria, Braga, Santarém, Évora, Coimbra, Aveiro, Beja, Portalegre and Setúbal.
Source: Observadora
