Waving placards with slogans such as “Why save, its better to steal” and “Stealing is where the money is” and “We want our savings”, they first concentrated beside the Bank of Portugal building, which had three police officers guarding the door.

Several dozen protestors shouted “We want our money” and one even suggested forcing their way into the bank premises because the “police can’t shoot all of us”.

The slogans were shouted again as the protestors went to the former headquarters of Banif, now Santander Totta, and another two branches of the bank.

On 20 December 2015, the Portuguese government and the Bank of Portugal announced the resolution of Banif, with the sale of part of its banking activity to Santander Totta for €150 million and the transfer of other assets – including the toxic assets to a vehicle company.