Dozens of people took part in a protest parade in downtown Lisbon today, promoted by the CGTP’s Lisbon Union of Trade Unions, demanding better wages, singing a Christmas song, among the usual slogans, with lyrics adapted to the demands.
The protesters, many of them dressed as Santa Claus, gathered around 5:30pm at Largo Camões and walked down Rua Garrett towards Rossio, singing the traditional Christmas song “O menino está dormindo”, but with the lyrics changed.
“The government has been asleep| In the shadow of the majority| Corruption and inflation| Increasing every day| You screwed up big time| And that was fatal to you| O Costa you’re leaving| You didn’t make it to Christmas| The increase in pensions| Was a poisoned gift| It’s just a few pennies| We’re not going to keep quiet|”, sang the demonstrators, as they walked down Garrett Street under the curious gaze of tourists, who raised their cell phones as the parade passed by.
The protest promoted by the Lisbon Union of Trade Unions, a “popular Christmas march” with arches similar to those of the Lisbon marches, but with placards instead of paper flowers demanding an increase in wages and pensions and a 35-hour working week, aimed to “denounce and combat the blatant inequalities and social injustices”.
Two men dressed as “capitalists”, in suits and top hats, with cigars in their hands and the logos of various hypermarkets stuck to their clothes, stood out among the demonstrators who shouted “millions for the bosses, pennies for wages” or “we can’t accept being impoverished while working”.
CGTP general secretary Isabel Camarinha, who led the parade, told Lusa that the parade was part of a series of actions being held in various cities across the country to “denounce the deterioration of living and working conditions” in Portugal.