government-imposed austerity measures aimed at lifting the ailing country out of recession.
Tens of thousands of people filled a Lisbon boulevard during Saturday's protests and headed to the finance ministry carrying placards saying "Screw the troika, we want our lives back".
The troika is a reference to the European Commission(EC), the International Monetary Fund(IMF) and the European Central Bank(ECB), the lenders behind the country's financial bailout.
Many protesters were singing a 40-year-old song linked to a 1974 popular uprising known as the Carnation Revolution.
Portugal is expected to suffer a third straight year of recession in 2013, with a two percent contraction. The overall jobless rate has grown to a record 17.6 percent.
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