- Title: PORTUGAL: Desperation and poverty in Portuguese capital
- Date: 14th November 2012
- Summary: LISBON, PORTUGAL (NOVEMBER 14, 2012) (REUTERS) STREET IN NEIGHBORHOOD OF ALC�TARA PORTUGUESE FLAG SOCIAL HOUSING VARIOUS OF WOMAN HANGING HER CLOTHES OUT TO DRY PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET OLD BUILDINGS BROKEN WINDOWS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE HAVING COFFEE SITTING ON THE STREET ELDERLY MAN WITH CIGARETTE AND NEWSPAPER (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) ANABELA VICENTE, KITCHEN HELPER, SAY
- Embargoed: 29th November 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Portugal
- Country: Portugal
- Topics: Economy,Social Services / Welfare
- Reuters ID: LVAES1MUJQUKGK428NP0D8E5JXYD
- Story Text: Lisbon's poorest residents are scared that soon they will have to start going without food, as money and jobs become more scarce. Millions of workers went on strike across Europe in protest against spending cuts in a deep economic recession.
Many of Portugal's poorest people won't join in the protests sweeping Europe on Wednesday (November 14).
In Travesso do Sebeiro, Alc�tara, one of Lisbon's oldest neighbourhoods, residents were going about their business, hanging out washing on the street and running errands.
Millions of workers went on strike across Europe, but people in Alc�tara say they are unemployed, don't have money to eat and some are slipping into depression.
"I don't have any money to eat. I have to go to the centre to ask for bread. I have to ask people for help and for them to give me food. It is making me so sad I already tried to take pills to take my life," said Anabela Vicente, a kitchen helper, who says she struggles to pay for her house and bills.
Anabela Vicente says she fell into mental depression when her pay was cut and had to stop work temporarily.
She says she is the mother of two sons and struggles to provide for them.
"There is no hope. I've never seen something like this. When I was little I used to go with my parents to the poor kitchen but now again? I have to ask for people to give me food. When they ask me if I'm embarrassed I say no, of course not. I have no money to eat."
The euro zone crisis has led Portugal into its deepest recession since the 1970s, with overall unemployment at a record 15.8 percent as the centre-right government slashes spending under a 78-billion-euro bailout deal with the European Union and IMF.
Still, strikes and protests against austerity, which has included wage cuts of up to 20 percent for civil servants, have been low-key compared with places like Greece and Spain.
While die-hard leftists rail in parliament and the largest union organises poorly-attended strikes, the general mood has been one of hopelessness.
Even people like Nuno Santos, who is unemployed but studying a course financed by the state, feel like they are out of options.
"I do what I can. I live with my mother, otherwise I would be on the street. I don't get any help from the government," Santos said.
For others there are even fears of starving.
"We aren't starving yet but we have less and less money for anything. To pay our bills, the gas, water," said Gloria, who is unemployed but helps a friend running his coffee shop "Os Pintos".
The Portuguese government, elected over a year ago with clear warnings of the hardship to come, is determined to meet fiscal goals under the bailout and sees no alternative to more of the same. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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