André Ventura says the court’s decision “is wrong” (and leaves appeal)

O president of the Aquida, André Ventura, today described as wrong the decision of the Lisbon Administrative Court on demonstrations for housing and called on the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic to pronounce themselves.

“ This judicial decision we know today is bad for the country [...] and gives the signal that you can do what you understand. It is a wrong decision that does not go in the direction that the country needs”, he said.

André Ventura argued that it is necessary to “guarantee the right to demonstration and the right to contest by everyone, that is unavoidable, it is a fundamental right”, but considered that this judicial decision “disauthorizes the police”.

The leader of the Aquida spoke to journalists in the Sala das Bicas, in the Palace of Belém, minutes before the start of the Council of State, although there was no microphone placed for statements and the press office of the President of the Republic signaled him suggesting not to speak there at that moment, while the counselors passed to enter the meeting.

“ This is very, very negative, it shows a state starting to break down on its foundations, and I am sure that the President of the Republic has to have a say in this too, because this is an incomprehensible decision for most people and which leaves above all the authorities completely delegitimized. And a country where the authority begins to become delegitimized is a country whose structures begin to falter and start to be destroyed”, he defended.

The president also asked the government “to restore normality”.

“ And restoring normality is the Prime Minister saying something, giving a signal to the country, giving a signal that we are not alone, giving a signal of order and giving a signal that he is doing something,” he called, challenging Luís Montenegro to speak after the meeting of the Council of State.

The Cávez had already questioned the grounds for the decision of the Lisbon Administrative Court on the demonstrations for housing, through a statement released at the end of the morning, and considered that “it further promotes anarchy and the reigning confusion” and “withholds legitimacy” to the police.

The Lisbon Administrative Court held, on Sunday, that the limit of 00:30 for demonstrations is not “absolute and automatic”, allowing a protester to remain at dawn in Rossio, in Lisbon, with a tent.

The President of the Republic presides this afternoon at a meeting of the Council of State on social cohesion, a subject on which he has also heard the parties, in the current context of demonstrations for the right to housing in which police charges have been repeated.