To be honest I never saw anything about this taking place, but any kind of protest on this island is a total waste of time, the Madeirans don’t have the balls for anything like this and if its to do with the government then even worse, they are to scared to speak up… I totally agree with this chap about the auto voucher, total wast of time, a 5 euro saving a month is absolutely nothing, I would rather stick the 5 euros up the presidents ….
The demonstration against fuel prices, scheduled for this afternoon in various parts of the country, had little participation in Madeira. Next to the Legislative Assembly of Madeira, the site planned for the protest, there were more police agents deployed to ensure the safety of the initiative than the participants. Strictly speaking, only one person attended at the appointed time, the local organizer, Paulo Brito.
The demonstrator admitted that he expected another level of adhesion, because from the previous contacts he had with taxi drivers and with citizens on social networks, he predicted the participation of “70 to 100 people” in the event. “In Madeira, it is a little complicated to mobilize people. The ‘feedback’ I had on social media was that they would be here. But social media is one thing and another thing is to have the courage to even be here at the appointed time”, he described .
Anyway, Paulo Brito underlined that there are reasons for citizens to be worried. “This is like a snowball, because if fuel prices are increasing by dragging the prices of consumables in the supermarket and all other products – bread, milk, chicken, canned food. Let the Portuguese not be mistaken with an autovoucher ‘or any other bullshit you want to call it. Because if we spend 100 euros on fuel a month, 70 euros are for taxes and the state only refunds us 5 euros”, described the mentioned citizen.
Moreover, the only visible message of the demonstration was a banner with the phrase ‘There is no drop for this clowning!’, which was placed next to the lagoon at the main entrance of the Madeiran parliament and belongs to the Movement Comprising Portugal (MCP). It is “a non-partisan movement”, which “has no political ideology” and is organized “by citizens who have joined together to fight against what is wrong in Portugal”. Paulo Brito described that at this moment he also represents the movements ‘Lower Fuel Prices – A Pé Não Vou’.
