LISBON (Xinhua) - Thousands of Portuguese took to the streets in the national capital of Lisbon Saturday to protest against government's austerity measures while calling for the government to step down.
"We are having a boot held on our throats," said Candida Carvalho, 52, a pensioner, adding that despite having worked for 40 years, she was earning a pension below the national minimum wage of 485 euros a month.
"Next year the government will make cuts worth thousands in education, which means they'll close more schools and lay off teachers," said Paulo Macedo, 52, a secondary school teacher. "My position has been frozen and I am forced to take yearly auditions. "
The protest, organized by national trade unions, came after the country's Constitutional Court recently struck down several measures in the state budget for the year of 2014, including further cuts to pensioners and salary cuts in the public sector.
The country's national trade unions want the center-right ruling coalition to ease off spending cuts and lift the national minimum wage to 515 euros.
Armenio Carlos, leader of trade union CGTP, told protestors in downtown Lisbon that the government was "crossing the red line" imposed by the country's constitution, pointing to cuts in the national health service, education and pensions. He called for another protest on July 10, the same day the parliamentary debate takes place.
Portugal is expecting to raise value added tax even further from the current rate of 23 percent, but the constitutional court said the public sector pay cuts of between 2 percent and 12 percent was "excessive."
Though the country ended its 78-billion-euro bailout program with its international creditors on May 17, the government and its European partners have insisted austerity is necessary to meet its budget deficit reduction targets - cutting the budget deficit from 4.9 percent last year to 2.5 percent in 2015.
The country's unemployment now stands at 15 percent, while its national debt is close to 132 percent of the country's gross domestic product.