Pickpocket Surge, a Belém Assault, and a Tram 28 Knife Scare: Lisbon's Crime Week in Full

Three separate mugging incidents in Alfama between Sunday and Wednesday, a reported knife threat aboard Tram 28 near the Graça stop on Tuesday evening, and a street assault close to the Torre de Belém on Thursday morning — this has been one of Lisbon's more turbulent weeks for street crime, according to Polícia de Segurança Pública incident logs reviewed by The Daily Lisbon. No fatalities were recorded, but two tourists required treatment at Hospital de São José for minor injuries sustained during robberies on Rua das Escolas Gerais.

The timing matters. Peak summer season has pushed daily visitor numbers in the historic centre well above 40,000, a figure the Câmara Municipal de Lisboa has cited in internal circulation documents as straining both transport infrastructure and community policing. The PSP's Comando Metropolitano de Lisboa has fewer than 6,200 officers covering the entire metropolitan area — a staffing level that the force's own union, the Associação Sindical dos Profissionais da Polícia, has repeatedly described as inadequate for a city that now regularly hosts major international events, NATO agency personnel, and a year-round expat population swollen by Golden Visa holders and digital nomads.

Where the Pressure Points Are

The Tram 28 corridor, running from Martim Moniz through Alfama and on to Campo de Ourique, has become the single most consistent flashpoint in PSP incident reports this summer. Officers have been deployed in plainclothes along the route since mid-June, a tactic the force used successfully during the 2024 European Football Championship. This week's knife scare — in which a male suspect reportedly threatened a group of Spanish tourists before fleeing on foot toward Largo da Graça — tested that deployment. The suspect had not been apprehended as of press time Friday afternoon.

Belém presents a different problem. The neighbourhood draws visitors to the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, but its wider streets see less consistent police foot presence than Alfama. Thursday's assault happened on Rua de Belém itself, at roughly 9:40 in the morning, when a man on an electric scooter snatched a bag from a Brazilian couple. Witnesses flagged down a GNR patrol on Avenida da Índia within minutes, but the rider had already crossed into the riverside path network and disappeared. The GNR confirmed an investigation is open.

Data, Deterrence, and What the Numbers Show

PSP statistics published in May showed theft from persons in Lisbon rose 18 percent in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period last year, with Alfama, Baixa-Chiado, and the Santa Apolónia railway corridor accounting for 61 percent of recorded cases. The figure tracks closely with the city's occupancy data: hotels in Lisbon recorded an average occupancy rate of 84 percent across March and April, the highest since records began, according to Turismo de Portugal.

The Montenegro government's interior ministry has promised to announce a summer-policing reinforcement package before July 15, including a temporary redeployment of 200 officers from quieter districts in the Alentejo and Algarve. The Câmara Municipal, under Mayor Carlos Moedas, is separately piloting a network of 47 new CCTV cameras between Martim Moniz and the waterfront — an expansion of the existing Videovigilância programme that has faced repeated delays since its 2024 approval.

For anyone moving around the city this weekend: keep bags worn across the chest rather than on one shoulder, avoid the Tram 28 during the 18:00–20:00 rush if carrying valuables, and use the PSP's non-emergency number, 217 654 242, for any incident that doesn't require an immediate response. The nearest police station to Alfama is the Esquadra da Baixa on Rua Augusto Rosa, a five-minute walk from the Sé cathedral. Officers there told a Daily Lisbon reporter on Thursday that they expect the reinforcements to be visible on the street by July 10 at the latest — though the formal announcement from Lisbon has yet to arrive.