The Buzz | Portugal Communist Party gets OK for 16,500 people at event

Health authorities in Portugal are allowing the country’s Communist Party to let 16,500 people into its annual open-air festival next weekend – an unusually high number for a gathering in Europe amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The permit has caused an outcry because officials have for months slashed the number of people allowed into other public events, forcing many of them to cancel.
The announcement came as the center-left Socialist government is seeking political support from other parties, including the Communists, for its 2021 spending plan.
The festival, called Festa do Avante, features concerts and political speeches in a fenced-off area of countryside south of Lisbon. In past years it has drawn some 100,000 people, of a wide variety of ages, over its three days.
The event is a major source of income for the Communist Party, which has 10 seats in Portugal’s 230-seat parliament.