The planting of 700 cork oaks carried out by a group of volunteers in the central divider of Av. dos Estados Unidos da América, in Lisbon, last Sunday (30 November), ended with the police identification of two participants, including a 78-year-old man, and a fine to pay. The situation was reported at the Lisbon Municipal Assembly meeting, where the case reignited the debate on the treatment of green spaces and the way in which the municipality views citizen interventions.
According to the Lusa news agency, Nuno Prates presented himself at the session as a citizen with no party ties, explaining that he usually promotes “some initiatives with volunteers” linked to renaturalization. According to the same source, this intervention came after the discovery that trees planted by the Alvalade Parish Council had died, leading the group to take the decision to replace them.
The volunteers received “a donation of cork oaks” and chose to plant them “at the correct time” to resist what they describe as “total negligence and lack of interest” on the part of the municipality in maintaining urban vegetation. The news agency adds that “700 copies were placed in line, 10 centimeters high”, justifying the quantity due to the low survival rate without regular care from municipal services.
Resident’s complaint and intervention by the Municipal Police
The intervention took place with messages of encouragement from several residents, but the process changed when a council employee contacted the Municipal Police. The same source states that the agents ended up identifying Prates and another 78-year-old volunteer, as they did not have authorization for the action.
Prates questioned the municipality’s position, recalling that the complainant “was the leader of a program called Renaturalizing the City” and that “her first attitude was to punish them”. The activist also reported that the police listened to the explanations, but clarified that “they had to comply with the law”.
Public reactions and requests for clarification
Another resident lamented that “the city council often does not take due care of green spaces” and stated that, despite complaints made to local entities, “trees continue to be cut down every day in the Encarnação area”. He writes that the intervention highlighted the need to involve citizens in environmental recovery, thanking that “the situation is also duly clarified in the chamber”.
Another volunteer classified the episode as difficult to understand, asking “how is it that a person linked to the council’s environment is shocked to see volunteers who are doing work that supports” the local authority itself, stating that the group acts “on a voluntary basis”.
Volunteers leave final note
The president of the assembly, André Moz Caldas, guaranteed that all questions would be forwarded to the executive for response. In the final note sent by the volunteers, cited by the same source, the reflection appears in a critical tone: for those who govern, they wrote, what they do “is illegal, must be prevented and penalized”, concluding with irony: “We are criminals. We plant and take care of green spaces”.
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