Montenegro asks protesters for housing not to be selfish

O prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, today asked protesters of the Movement for Housing in Porto to “not be selfish” about tranquility and public order, and argued that police forces are usually “extraordinarily careful and respectful”.

The Movement for Housing that has been protesting in Porto since Saturday denounced that during the early hours of today there was a police intervention that caused injuries in 37 of the participants, two of whom were in serious condition.

“ I hope that political parties, associative movements, Portuguese organisations, will not fall into temptation, for purely selfish reasons of their own action, to import to Portugal climates of instability, of contestation, which have not really supported in Portuguese society. And the demonstration you are talking about is clear about this, about the dimension [...] of what is legitimate, what is protesting, which is expressing a political position in the face of what is dominant in the country,” said Luís Montenegro in response to journalists.

Speaking of the arrival at the European Council meeting in Brussels on the day the Movement for Housing denounced a strong police intervention at night, the Head of Government said: “We do not have this instability, we do not have this level of conflictuality and we cannot fall into the mistake of considering that few people now give an idea of a country that seems to be in turmoil, it is not.”.

“ I have no elements to be able to issue an opinion, [but] what seems to me is that our security forces are extraordinarily careful and respectful of these principles, the principle of necessity, adequacy and proportionality”, said.