The Fort Worth Press - Nearly 50 Figures Demand Housing Focus Over Police Response in Portugal

Nearly 50 prominent Portuguese figures have issued a manifesto demanding that the national debate focus on housing affordability rather than police conduct during recent demonstrations. The document, titled "This is still about homes to live in," argues that emphasizing law enforcement responses serves to distract from the government's failure to address the core crisis.

The manifesto, which has been reviewed by the Lusa news agency, lists signatories from across the political spectrum. Among them are former Assembly of the Republic President Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues and former CDS-PP leader Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, who co-promoted the appeal alongside PS figure Pedro Costa.

Supporters include former European Parliament member Ana Gomes; ex-ministers Duarte Cordeiro, Maria Manuel Leitão Marques, Pedro Adão e Silva, Fernando Negrão, David Justino, and António Capucho; and former deputies José Pacheco Pereira, Duarte Pacheco, Miguel Costa Matos, Sofia Pereira, and Isabel Soares.

The group acknowledges the recent housing protests in Porto and Lisbon but insists that security forces must respect the right to demonstrate and use force only when necessary. However, they argue that the political responsibility lies with Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and the Minister of Internal Administration, not the officers on the ground.

"We are concerned that the debate is moving away from housing and concentrating on public order," the manifesto states. "The insistence on the police response helps to change the subject and frees a Government that must answer for its choices."

The signatories warn that while society discusses how people protest, the concrete problem of housing remains unaddressed. They note that too many people in Portugal work every day yet cannot afford a home.

"The Government appears to show more commitment to repressing dissent than to solving the problem that causes it," the document criticizes.

In a related legal development, the Attorney General's Office has sent authorization for a tent to be presented to the Constitutional Court. The group views the tent as part of the reivindicative message, emphasizing that the dispute is fundamentally about access to housing.

C.Dean--TFWP