Montenegro breaks ten-day silence, defends police and blames Socialists on housing

Ten days out of view

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro had no public agenda for ten days while housing protests filled streets in Lisbon and Porto. He returned on Tuesday, 27 October, at the opening of the parliamentary debate on the 2027 State Budget, his first public appearance after that stretch. Opposition parties and parts of civil society had criticised his silence. President Seguro, who had not appeared publicly for almost a week, had by then convened the parties and the Council of State to discuss social cohesion, and was due to meet housing experts on Wednesday, 28 October.

Police conduct in the protests

A protest at Rossio in Lisbon ended with a police charge on Saturday, 24 October, and police intervened again in Lisbon in the early hours of Sunday, 25 October. Montenegro praised the Public Security Police (PSP) for its handling of the demonstrations, describing the response as showing balance and reasonableness. He told parliament:

“The PSP has been especially careful and competent in restoring normality whenever excesses occur.”

According to Montenegro, the police interventions respected the principles of adequacy, necessity and proportionality. He rejected claims that the right to demonstrate had been limited, while arguing that the right and the way it is exercised must not compromise public order, public tranquillity and public health. The protests have been held mainly in Lisbon and Porto.

Ventura's question and the "working" answer

André Ventura, leader of Chega, opened his questions by asking where Montenegro had been while police officers were attacked and insulted and the rule of law was threatened. Montenegro replied that he had been working for the country, in contact with ministers, government members and the services under their supervision on every day of the protests. He divided politicians into those who regard work as giving interviews and answering every claim, and those who carry out public policies that solve people's problems, placing Ventura in the first group. The exchange took place during the same debate on the 2027 budget.

Housing blame and the budget debate

Montenegro acknowledged that the housing crisis is structural, that it did not begin recently and that it cannot be solved in two years. He placed responsibility on the previous Socialist governments, saying:

“There are not enough homes in Portugal because for the last ten years no one built them.”

He described the Socialist governments' record as the greatest incompetence in housing policy and rejected what he called moral superiority complexes on the Left. On the government's proposed changes to urban leasing law, which socialists, communists and the Bloc of the Left had criticised, he said the law had not yet been changed and the leasing changes had only been approved in general terms. He warned that continued demagogy and populism would keep critics irrelevant, and said the government's answer lies in increasing the supply of housing.

What comes next

A new protest was called for Tuesday in front of parliament, where the government and the parties are debating the budget. Montenegro's reappearance ends a ten-day absence from the public agenda, while Seguro's meeting with housing experts is set for Wednesday, 28 October.