ABSTRACT
Portugal, like other European countries, lived for a long time under right-wing authoritarian rule. The military dictatorship established in 1926 was replaced, in 1933, with a regime called the New State (Estado Novo)—instituted by António de Oliveira Salazar, it remained in force until 1974. During this period, the country’s authoritarian institutions periodically faced waves of opposition from a variety of adversaries. Among these, students had gained increasing importance since the mid-1950s and, by the second half of the 1960s, started to represent one of the strongest threats to the regime.
