The opposition leader and reference point of the far right in Portugal, André Ventura, has lashed out at the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, whom he holds responsible for the housing crisis and whom he accuses of "total incompetence" for not having reacted to a situation that has resulted in massive protests across the country.
The leader of Chega, the second Portuguese political force and far-right party, has reiterated Montenegro's "total incompetence", whom he blames for having caused "a public order problem" due to his passivity in the face of the serious housing situation.
Ventura has called for "emergency proposals" and has urged the head of Government to "address the country on housing" with a package of concrete measures. He has advanced that his party is finalizing for this same week a set of initiatives with the aim of halting the worsening of the situation, according to Lusa.
At the same time, he has shown his support for the demonstrators who are demanding solutions to access decent housing. "They know what country they live in. It is Luís Montenegro who does not know what country he lives in," he noted, stressing that the prime minister has allowed the matter to turn into a public order conflict because he "disappeared from the scene for several days or weeks".
This Sunday, thousands of people again gathered in the squares of Joao I, in Porto, and of Pedro IV, in Lisbon, after the violent eviction in the early hours of the previous day of the housing encampments, evicted in a controversial police operation.
As the first gesture in several weeks, the Secretary of State for Housing, Patrícia Gonçalves Costa, expressed her willingness to hold a meeting with the organizations of the encampments after three highly questioned evictions. "Of course, I am, have been and will be available to meet with everyone," she stated.