The protestors inside the bank demanded solutions to get back the money they had invested in Grupo Espírito Santo commercial paper, before the group went bankrupt.


Some of the clients chained themselves inside the bank while others shouted “we want our money”, “we want our savings”, “I’m not leaving without my money”.


On 3 August, the Bank of Portugal took over the reins of BES after it had presented net half-yearly losses of €3.6 billion and split the institution into a bad bank with all the toxic assets and liabilities (a vehicle which is still called BES, and where the shareholders are corralled) and a good bank, although it is only transitory, called Novo Banco.