Lisbon, May 26, 2025 (Lusa) - The environmental movement Climáximo has scheduled a protest, a "popular sit-in", at Lisbon airport on 1 June to "stop the climate crisis" and demand free transport.
The meeting point is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday, next to the Relógio roundabout, near one of the airport access points, and the aim is to cause "disruption to rush hour flights at Lisbon Airport, currently the most polluting infrastructure in the country".
For environmentalists, the airport is "a mirror not only of the touristification facing cities, but also of the monstrous size of the global aviation industry".
In the statement, spokeswoman Maria Lourenço said that the needed "great social transformation" can only be led by popular power, not by companies and governments.
"To avoid climate and social collapse, we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Portugal by at least 85% by 2030," she said, contesting the possibility of any expansion project and calling for an end to the "absurdity of private jets and short-haul flights (such as Lisbon-Porto)".
By 2030, it will be necessary to reduce the impact of commercial aviation and, at the same time, there will be a need for "massive investment in a network of free, electrified public transport that serves the entire country and has good international connections," he added.
According to the movement, "Lisbon airport and the aviation industry are one of the main culprits in Portugal for the climate crisis", criticising the decision to build a new structure.
In Portugal, there is a parliamentary consensus on constructing a new airport and expanding this deadly industry for everyone. This cannot be: every new emitting infrastructure is a carbon bomb that will fall on us," say the activists, who regret the result of the legislative elections.
"With the election results, it has become clearer that this system will not save us. On the contrary, it is collapsing and pushing us into the climate abyss," they said.
Therefore, "it is up to us, the ordinary people, to pull the emergency brake, build popular democracy and enter into climate resistance now".
PJA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
