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The demonstration was attended by a crowd of students from various universities, who came together to protest the current state of government investment in education and other problems associated with education.
Two buses departed from Vila Real with 65 students who joined this movement whose main motto was “Roof and Housing: a right to education”.
Fernando Gonçalves, president of AAUTAD, revealed to VTM that this student movement “intended to raise awareness and leave our mark”.
“We can see great mobilization on the part of our students and that is why AAUTAD, always together with all other associations, played a central role on this day”, he added.
Rossio Square was the meeting point where the protest march began, which extended through Chiado and ended at the Assembly of the Republic. The lines of students advanced through the streets full of tourists and residents, evoking phrases such as: “The bribe hurts, the bribe hurts”; “Scholarships yes, tuition fees no”; “Education is a right, without it nothing can be done”; and “April 25 always, fascism never again”.
In addition to this demonstration evoking March 24th, National Student Day, April 25th was also one of the mottos of this movement, where red carnations colored the clothes and academic attire of all participants. And so, the young students advanced through the city until they reached the Assembly of the Republic, where they heard speeches from several representatives of national higher education institutions.
“We came to Lisbon to demand our rights as students, because if it’s not us, no one will do anything”, exclaimed Catarina Faria, Communication Sciences student at UTAD. “Of course, we won’t be able to do anything today either, but the fact that we protest against a general problem, such as housing in Portugal, I think we contributed to the decision of some measures taken in the assembly and in the parties”, added the student from Trás-os-Montes.
The demonstration took place on March 21st and brought together higher education students to mark International Student Day.
