Santa Filomena Demolitions Spark Outcry in Amadora, Portugal
AMADORA, Portugal — Tensions flared in the former Santa Filomena neighborhood on Monday as municipal bulldozers moved in for what city officials called a “cleanup operation,” but what residents and activists described as an unannounced demolition of homes.
The area, now officially known as Estrada Militar in the Mina de Água parish, was technically dismantled in 2016. However, several residents who missed the original resettlement process have spent years living in precarious structures on the site. On Monday morning, the arrival of heavy machinery sent a wave of panic through the remaining community.
“I Have Nowhere to Go”
Simão Lopes Fernandes, who has lived in the area since 1998, moved into a makeshift structure six years ago. He was blindsided by the municipal police. “No one said anything,” Fernandes told reporters. “They told me I have to pack my things because this is going down this afternoon or tomorrow. I’ve already put a suitcase of clothes in my car, but I have nowhere to go yet.”
Catarina Morais, a lawyer representing several residents, arrived at the scene to find a community in shock. She reported that at least two men had already lost their housing during the morning’s work. “The machines just showed up,” Morais said. “There was no public notice, no warning, and no verbal information given to the people living here.”
Safety vs. Shelter
The Amadora City Council, led by the Socialist Party (PS), defended the intervention in a press statement. The council characterized the operation as “strictly for the cleaning of municipally owned land” to mitigate fire risks and public health hazards caused by the accumulation of flammable materials and waste.
Crucially, the council denied that any legal residences were being targeted. Officials stated there are no “licensed residences or residents” in the structures being removed, asserting their “absolute priority” is to ensure the area remains free of illegal occupation following the neighborhood’s official closure years ago.
Residents argue this bureaucratic stance ignores the human reality on the ground. “People live in very precarious conditions, and sometimes it isn’t immediately obvious if a structure is a home or a storage shed,” Morais noted. “But for those living inside, the distinction is everything.”
Loss of Livelihoods
The cleanup didn’t just target housing. Maria Borges, a former resident who returned to the neighborhood to tend a small community garden, arrived to find her crops destroyed. “Sugar cane, beans, corn, cabbage—it’s all gone,” she said, gesturing toward a massive pile of rubble. She lost not only her food but also kitchen supplies she had been saving to send to family in Cape Verde.
As of Monday afternoon, municipal police remained on-site as backhoes continued to clear the land. While the city maintains it is protecting public order, the Vida Justa movement and local legal advocates are meeting with displaced residents to determine their next steps in a battle for housing rights that seems far from over.
Image: Pexels – Yakup Polat
