More than 2,500 families are occupying six properties in Brazil’s Federal District as part of a protest organized by the MTST Homeless Workers Movement, the organization said Sunday.
The coordinated occupation was carried out peacefully in Brazlandia, Ceilandia, Planaltina, Recanto das Emas, Samambaia and Taguatinga, all of them cities in the Brasilia metropolitan area.
The protesters plan to occupy the properties until an agreement is reached with the regional government, the MTST said.
“We are going to stay here until there is an agreement with the government (of the Federal District). We spoke with them on Saturday and we set a new meeting for Tuesday,” the MTST coordinator in Brasilia, Edson Silva, told Efe.
This is the biggest housing-related protest ever staged in Brazil, Silva said, adding that no one had ever carried out this many simultaneous land occupations.
The MTST wants housing policies implemented to assist the more than 2,500 families camped out on the properties, which belong to the Federal District’s government.
The protesters, who include women and children, want more public housing built and improved services in the cities around Brasilia.