Montenegro to address Portugal on housing at 20:00 amid protests and police charges

The announcement

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro is scheduled to address the country on housing at 20:00 on Tuesday, 3 November, speaking from the official residence at São Bento in Lisbon. He made the announcement to reporters at a hangar at Humberto Delgado Airport, right after the signing ceremony for the sale of a large part of TAP's capital to the Lufthansa group. He deferred any comment on housing until that address and a conversation with journalists that will follow. At the ceremony he defended the deal in terms of the national interest:

“We are here thinking about the interest of the country.”

Weeks of protests and police charges

Housing protests have been held since 10 October, demanding a reversal of the new rental law, an end to demolitions and evictions without alternative housing, and a curb on purchases of homes by real estate funds. Demonstrators also want more public housing and the reuse of vacant buildings for homes. Encampments in Lisbon's Rossio square and Porto's Praça D. João I have been cleared by police before. Early on Sunday, 1 November, the Public Security Police (PSP) dispersed both camps again, removing about 100 tents. The operation involved police charges and thrown objects, leaving more than 20 people injured among protesters and police.

Political reaction

After the second police charge in Lisbon on Sunday morning, President António José Seguro said he had spoken to Montenegro and to the mayors of Lisbon and Porto, and he called for dialogue and consensus:

“The right to demonstrate is a constitutional right, a mark of our freedom and of our democratic regime.”

Seguro also asked the government and the Ombudsman for clarification of the police action. He convened the Council of State, which met on Monday, 2 November. A lawyer filed a criminal complaint for abuse of power against the interior administration minister and the PSP director. In parliament, during a budget hearing, Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro rejected direct government responsibility for police action, separating political from operational responsibility in his reply to Bloco de Esquerda deputy Fabian Figueiredo. Bloco has also taken complaints about the police charges to the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

Camp dispute and the TAP deal

Lisbon city council has proposed three alternative sites so a Christmas market can be held in Rossio, while the campers refuse to leave and traders back the market there. The Attorney General's Office (PGR) has appealed a court decision that allowed a tent in Rossio at dawn, and the campers contest whether the appeal suspends that decision. The judge who issued the ruling must decide that question. On TAP, the airline's chairman said he does not expect the Lufthansa stake to bring cost cuts or job reductions.