Lisbon, March 20: Thousands of Portuguese have taken to the streets of the capital Lisbon, demanding jobs and better wages while the Socialist government is facing a political crisis.
“The youth is unemployed, and the pensioners have no money to eat or to pay for medication. We are completely poor,” said a pensioner, who participated in the demonstration on Saturday.
CGTP umbrella union organized the demonstration, AFP reported.
Portugal’s minority Socialist government is facing a growing challenge of convincing investors and the European Union that it can contain its budget deficit and avoid the fate of Greece and Ireland in seeking a bailout by cutting spending.
Apart from the austerity program already in force, which involves tax rises and pay cuts in the public sector, the government announced earlier this month extra austerity measures to cut its deficit, including taxing pensions and cutting health spending and some social security payments.
———Agencies