A group of protesters gathered this morning near the vacation home of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho to protest against tolls on the A22 and to demand his resignation.
At the gathering in Manta Rota, Vila Real de Santo António, there were more GNR officers than protesters from Cuvi (Commission of Users of the Via do Infante) but this did not dull the intent of seriousness of the commission members acting on behalf of the vast majority of motorists in the region.
The protestors sung the old revolution favourite ‘Sines, Vila Morena’ amid shouts of protest.
"Watch your wallets, Pedro Passos Coelho is in this road," shouted one of the protesters repeatedly.
Cuvi leader and left Bloc councillor João Vasconcelos gave a speech pledging that the protests will continue, whether the number of protestors are "few or many."
Some Manta Rota residents were not as supportive as they might have been, one with an impressive memory telling the protestors to go and protest at the door of the former Prime Minister António Guterres or of the former Minister of Public Works João Cravinho.
The previous evening the protestors had visited the holiday home of the President of the Republic, Cavaco Silva, near Albufeira to demand the abolition of tolls on the Via do Infante and to complain about the impact of the tolls on the Algarve’s economy.
As happended last year, the protestors were not given the opportuinty of talking either to the PM or the President and their written applications for a meeting to discuss the Algarve tolls situation remain unanswered.
