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Hundreds of Portuguese protest at Lisbon airport against TAP sale

Xinhua, February 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Hundreds of Portuguese who oppose the sale of Portuguese flag carrier TAP protested on Saturday at Lisbon airport.

The protest was organized by Portuguese filmmaker Antonio Pedro Vasconcelos, according to local media reports.

The protesters held banners that read "I love TAP," and "TAP, national pride," calling for Minister of Economy Pires de Lima and Secretary of State for Transport Sergio Monteiro to step down.

The protest came in the run-up to the government's releasing official information to potential candidates regarding the sale.

TAP's privatization is one of the terms set in the bailout program Portugal signed in 2011 with its troika of international lenders -- the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

Portugal decided to sell off 66 percent of TAP, and the government will retain a 34 percent stake which it can sell two years after the sale of the first batch of stake.

Portugal relaunched the concession of TAP in November last year, after the first attempt was stalled at the end of 2012 because Brazilian investor German Efromovich, owner of Avianca airline brands in South America, didn't meet the necessary banking requirements in time.

Earlier this month TAP announced it was imposing a ban on firing employees en masse as long as the state is a shareholder of the company. Endit