All aboard! Thousands take to buses in Lisbon to protest government austerity Austerity protesters in Portugal took to buses to cross Lisbon's landmark April 25th bridge after the government denied them permission to march across it. Amid a cacophony of tooting horns, 400 buses made their way over to Lisbon, even paying the toll for the bridge. There was disagreement on the numbers on the street, however - the organisers putting attendance between 50 and 60,000; the police estimated 25,000. The demonstrators were protesting a raft measures introduced by the Portuguese government to cut costs - these include reducing public service salaries and cutting pensions for public sector workers.