International briefs: Portugal

SEVERAL hundred thousand people marched in Lisbon and ten other cities yesterday in protest rallies, their numbers boosted by austerity measures announced by the government a day earlier.

In the capital, an estimated 200,000 protesters carried banners with slogans urging a policy change to reverse surging unemployment, precarious working conditions for young people and falling living standards.

"The announcement of more austerity yesterday is just complete shamelessness. This rally is the start of a wave of protests," said Joana Manuel, 34, a subcontracted university teacher who is set to lose her job at the end of the year.

The government announced a series of extra spending cuts and tax changes on Friday aimed at bringing its budget deficit down to 4.6 per cent in 2011.

The peaceful rallies were organised through social networking sites by a group calling itself Precarious Generation.