Speaking to the Lusa agency, the president of the 25 de Abril Users Democratic Association, Aristides Teixeira, said that motorists were joining the protest this morning.

“Given this scenario of rampant increases, we demand the Government to take substantial, meaningful measures. We ask you to regulate the sector and while regulation does not take place, it is necessary to prevent and significantly lower fuel prices, and the Government can do that. These are political decisions that can be made,” he underlined.

For Aristides Teixeira, the measures recently announced by the Government “are nothing but crumbs”.

“We realised that the government is on the side of greed, of profit. It presents some measures to deceive the most distracted. The autovoucher, the VAT, in practice has no meaning because the increases are rampant”, he stressed.

Aristides Teixeira highlighted that since January 2021, the Government has been “at war with the people”, violating the “right to live with dignity” based on the fuel increase that began more than a year ago.

Aristides Teixeira also highlighted that it makes perfect sense to make this protest on the bridge because the so-called Margem Sul (of the Tagus, in the district of Setúbal) is one of the poorest regions of the country.

The 25 de Abril Bridge is 2,277 meters long, connecting the north (Lisbon) and south (Almada, district of Setúbal) banks of the Tagus.

Chaos

“In the south of the Tagus, one of the poorest areas of the country, we are aware that there are families returning houses to banks and landlords, trying to live with relatives because they no longer have money. In addition, we pay tolls which further reduces the economic capacity to go to work,” he said.

According to Aristides Teixeira, there are more passengers looking for public transport, causing chaos.