The United Kingdom saw a massive general strike in November. Unruly crowds have unleashed mayhem on the streets of Rome and Athens. Spanish youth gather in public plazas there on a near-daily basis to give speeches, sing protest songs and make their presence as the self-proclaimed "indignant" heard.
Perhaps no recent protest, however, has been as personal as that of Mateus and Leonor Silva, of Lisbon, Portugal. The unemployed couple had been living in a parking lot trailer for 21 months, they told Reuters, because they had no money to pay rent and could not receive other assistance. With their two school-age daughters, they lived an unpretentious existence, covering the roof of their home with a tarp and drying their laundry on its side. Then on Jan. 25, they were evicted by city police and left.
Until last week. In an act of protest and defiance, the couple came back to the spot where the shell of their former home was still standing. In full view of police, Mateus started throwing rocks at the trailer. Friends help the couple overturn the small structure. Then Leonor set it on fire.
The pictures speak for themselves.
© ReutersMateus Silva and his daughters at their Lisbon trailer, before being evicted.
© ReutersThe Silva family walks around the neighborhood.
© ReutersMateus Silva speaks with a Reuters photographer inside his trailer.
© ReutersSilva looks at the window of his former home, before being evicted.
© ReutersThe Silva family in front of their trailer home, before being evicted.
© ReutersMateus Silva takes his daughter to school.
© ReutersPolice evict the Silva family from their trailer residence, on January 25.
© ReutersA few weeks after the eviction, Mateus Silva returns to his former trailer home.
© ReutersAs police attempt to intervene, friends help the Silva family overturn their former home.
© ReutersAfter overturning the home, Leonor Silva sets it on fire.
© ReutersThe former Silva home, engulfed in flames, darkens the Lisbon sky.
© ReutersCity firefighters eventually put out the blaze.
What beautiful children of the Father. They shall have a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. As for now,those who read the above article had better 'buck up' and provide an immediate and comfortable home for this beautiful family.