... said Catarina Martins, one of BLOCO national coordinators, after 2nd March demonstrations in Portugal. Last Saturday, in 40 cities, almost one and a half million people joined the street protest under the motto "Que se lixe a troika!" (a soft version of "F... the troika!").

The main claims of the demonstrations were the need to put an end to austerity and the immediate resignation of the government.

The same week, new numbers of a record high 17.6% unemployment rate were published. For the youth, the numbers are even more dramatic: 38.6%. More than half of the unemployed don't receive any subsidy.

Two days after the demonstration, the results of a very large spectrum opinion poll on the cuts being prepared by the troika and the government, foreseen to reach 4 billion euro, shows that the Portuguese strongly oppose these cuts, mainly if they affect education, health and social security, although they believe these will the main targets of the government and the troika. The study shows that the Portuguese would rather have cuts done on PPPs (Public Private Partnerships), on public debt interest rates paid to the troika and the financial markets, and even on Defence spending.