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In the city of Porto, the morning began serene when accessing large commercial areas and supermarkets. The movement was seen a bit by Baixa, and especially in Rua de Santa Catarina, as is customary. Opinions seem to diverge among the people of Porto: there are those who agree with the new restrictions on weekends, and there are those who believe in the morning meetings that result from them. The truth is that, in the most commercial streets of Porto, the turnout was not greater than usual for a Saturday morning. In fact, in some cases it was even less. Although there was little resistance after the hour, around 2 p.m. there was a natural deterrent to any exit against curfew: it started to rain.
At 9:30 am, the atmosphere in the residential area of the São João Hospital is calm: there are few cars that pass through the Circunvalação and the local shops serve few people. Continente Bom Dia do Amial, at 10 am, does not show any signs of concentration, contrary to what one would expect on a Saturday when shops and services only open until 1 pm
In NorteShopping, in Matosinhos, the scenario is similar. The aisles are packed with people motivated by last minute purchases, but there are few windows covered by rows. At the door of a popular low-price clothing brand, several employees and security guards disinfect customers at the entrance. Later, two employees look at the mall outside the store, which had no customers. Lucas Neto, 20, and Ana Silva, 32, witness a Saturday “calmer than usual” and question the meaning of the opening of the shopping center. “A shopping this is where all the people congregate on weekends and it made more sense to have local businesses open, ”says Ana.
Filomena Moura, 53, came to NorteShopping early to buy a coat for her daughter, as she cannot do it during the week. “At the time of opening, there are usually endless lines to enter the shopping“And this morning it didn’t happen,” he says. Filomena considers that the new weekend restrictions “sin late”, although she believes that they create “a certain concentration, as has already been seen at the door of street supermarkets.”
Next to him, on the mainland, there is a hasty movement. The supermarket closes at 1:00 p.m. and it seems that there is no consensus among customers: for some it is a day of greater confusion, the result of new measures; for others, there is less influx due to restrictions. Mário Oliveira, 38, pushes a cart with “last minute purchases for lunch and dinner” and points out “a little more people than usual”. “This is what happens: they close in the afternoon, people come in the morning and accumulate more. In a certain part it got worse, instead of better ”, he defends. Outside, Ana Valente, 52, says her printer broke down and in order not to compromise her work she had to buy a new “emergency” one. He expected to find lines, but found himself in an environment that was “too quiet on a Saturday morning, as they are closing in the afternoon.” In turn, it considers that the measures “are unconvincing” and even “strange”, since they do not apply equally to all establishments.
As the morning progresses, the center of the Invicta becomes more alive. Some people come to Praça D. João I with shopping bags, they come from Rua de Santa Catarina, one of the most commercial streets in the city of Porto. There is already some traffic on Rua Sá da Bandeira, towards Avenida dos Aliados, but Praça da Liberdade remains devoid of decorations and people. This year there are no swings or Christmas trees. The center of Porto, from Galerias de Paris to Cedofeita, passing through Praça Carlos Alberto, is one of the favorite destinations for weekend trips. With the bars closed, Rua das Galerias de Paris has been practically empty for a few months now, but a few streets to the side, there are queues at the door of two spaces known for their pancakes.. Along with one of them, a family, who reserved a table in advance, waits outside. The measures “made lunch difficult,” they criticize.
Margarida Barbosa, 60, has just arrived to pick up the “vegetables and fruits that she had stored in the greengrocer’s” in Cedofeita, and guarantees that she feels safe with the usual movement of the street, which becomes pedestrianized on weekends. Praça dos Leões and Rua das Carmelitas show no big signs of a typical Saturday. In the queue for the iconic Livraria Lello, which often stretches down the street, there are only four people.
Rua das Flores also lives off tourism and this Saturday is a great example of the arbitrary component of the new measures. Many merchants chose to close their doors, now there are more railings than shop windows. Ourivesaria Coutinho decided to open, but she still hasn’t seen her first customer of the day come in and she has an hour to close. The employee, Amilton Coelho, 77, waits for some movement outside the store. “From time to time a person passes by on the street,” he observes. He acknowledges the need for the measures, but points out that “it is the merchants who suffer this.”
At São Bento station some trains are still warned, even in the afternoon. An urban train arrives from Guimarães that takes some people to Invicta. On the way home or on a walk it is unknown, but the truth is that when you get to Rua de Santa Catarina you will find the usual bustle. Are there people on the street? Yes, but no more than normal. “I don’t think there are many people, I think it’s very good,” says Virgínia Pinto, 59, who came “to make some changes.”
Here the Christmas season is already present: at the junction with Rua de Passos Manuel the bells are already ringing. “I only have an hour to go to the store,” exclaims Clara Silva, 26 in a hurry. He came “so as not to stay closed at home,” but he worries about returning on time, they are not urgent purchases, he says, and if necessary, they can wait. Clara says she understands the rebellion of merchants and restaurants, “like the chaos that was seen yesterday” at the demonstration on Avenida dos Aliados. “The Portuguese always have a way of finding fault,” he criticizes. So expect to “see people’s excuses” to be on the street after 1pm.
In Bolhão, as usual, there is a queue at the bus stops. Fernando Pereira, 59, waits for the bus to arrive home before 1 in the afternoon. He has a winery in the temporary market of Bolhão and decided to close it an hour earlier. “Today’s people are looking for more in the morning,” he says, guaranteeing that he had more customers than usual. He agrees with the measures, despite “hurting many people”: “It has to be because this is getting worse.”
Some more in a hurry, others more relaxed, people are leaving Santa Catarina, but at five minutes after 1 p.m. there is still a certain insistence on the street. Porto’s response to the curfew is as unstable as the weather: it threatened to rain all morning, but it was still sunny. Half an hour after the shops close, few people walk down the street and most of the workers are at home. It is approaching 2pm and there are still some who cross the street of Santa Catarina. In front of the shopping ViaCatarina, a street artist resists without an audience. However, the long-awaited rain finally fell on Porto’s almost deserted sidewalks.
