Canas de Senhorim

Canas de Senhorim is a town and civil parish located in the municipality of Nelas, Portugal. Canas de Senhorim would be unknown to the majority of the Portuguese if not for its continuous fight to become a separate municipality. The town had already been a municipality of its own until 1852 when it was extinct and annexed by the municipality of Nelas. Since then the people of Canas de Senhorim have been calling for the restoration of their municipality, a movement which faces prompt opposition from Nelas politicians.

Citizens of Canas de Senhorim have protested through election boycott, disruption of the railway service that crosses the town, and even demonstrations in Lisbon. Canas de Senhorim almost saw its municipality restored when the Portuguese parliament approved so on July 3, 2003. However, Portugal's president Jorge Sampaio controversially vetoed the decree a month later, provoking general outrage in Canas de Senhorim.