Friday's 'yellow jackets' protests fail to engage

The Portuguese are not natural protestors, preferring now to support campaigns on social media rather than do yellow hi-viz jackets and gather under the watchful eye of the police.

The plan hatched in cyberspace, to gather in 25 cities on Friday to disrupt traffic in protest at a range of government-inspired ills, produced low numbers of protestors in most venues and only 200 in Lisbon.

The ‘gilet jaune’ protest movement was started in France by a Portuguese brikkie called Leandro Nogueira who inspired mass protest and disruption, criticism Macron’s government for high fuel prices, low minimum wage and anything else that came to mind.

The hope was that the protest ethos would travel to Portugal under the ‘Coletes amarelos’ banner whose protagonists aimed to ‘Stop Portugal’ by disrupting traffic.

The plans for protests and road blockages in Portugal looked impressive among a series of copycat protests around Europe.

Problems started on social media with accusations flying that some organisers, there are 15 separate groups, had sold out and fascism had infected the leadership.

In the event, or events, few bothered taking to the streets and a particularly Portuguese affair was born – a protest with no protestors despite 10,000 angry people expected to show some willing, wrap up warm and voice their concerns en masse.

Those that did show willing were outnumbered by police, 20,000 were on duty or stand-by, but managed briefly to slow the traffic in some locations, including Braga and Porto and at one roundabout in Lisbon.

Things were a bit more lively in the capital as around 200 protesters did turn up. Three were arrested but there was no serious trouble.

Prime Minister António Costa hit the right note by saying that it’s everyone’s right to protest and that no democratic government in history has managed to please all the people all of the time.

Social media pages failed to convert interest into action, with supporters unable to focus on a key topic.

Portugal lacks a far right party, something that maybe could have been useful on Friday as much of the 'Coletes amarelos’ rhetoric involves anti-semitism and immigration issues. Protestors also failed to engage with other political parties which remain wary of reputational risks.

Portugal’s president said that protests must be peaceful. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told reporters that, “Peaceful demonstrations are a Portuguese trademark, the violence we see in other countries is something different."

The Socialist Government is not bothered by these distractions. With a 70% approval rating and a general election in less than a year, Costa looks likely to walk into his second term, with or without Left Bloc support and without any far right opposition.

In the Algarve's capital city, Faro, numbers varied depending on who was reporting but around 100 people gathered on the roundabout near the Forum Algarve shopping centre.

Protest, in this context, involved walking very slowly across zebra crossings, thus causing some mild disruption to the flow of traffic.

Those present may have had trouble remembering the things they were there to protest about - the list is long and includes high taxes and fees, the low national minimum wage, corruption in government, public services and the business sector, and the National Health Service.

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