After several days of silence and growing pressure from the opposition, the President of the Republic finally spoke out today about police interventions during the housing protests.
António José Seguro condemned the images and the violence, stating that “law and freedom are not incompatible” and that the country’s problems must be resolved through dialogue.
“This is my position: defence of the democratic rule of law”, António José Seguro told journalists, at the end of a visit to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), in Lisbon.
“Law and freedom are not incompatible. Quite the contrary, to exercise freedom we must all respect one another and to respect one another we must obey the law. That applies to the authorities and applies to all citizens, including the President of the Republic (…)
“Portuguese culture is a culture of dialogue, not of violence and confrontation”, he added, stressing his concern over images of police baton charges last weekend.
“I did not like what I saw and, since seven in the morning that Sunday, I have been constantly attentive and concerned, gathering and demanding information from those I should”, he said, re-emphasisting: “I did not like what I saw. These are not normal images for an established democracy. I have always defended dialogue, I was elected on a platform of dialogue and I will always stand in defence of dialogue”.
Dialogue as a solution
The head of state doubled down on his defence of dialogue as a way to resolve the country’s problems, recalling the appeal he made the just over a week ago for the government and political parties to reach agreements (which they have not yet done).
“The solutions to housing problems are achieved and/ or guaranteed through public policy decisions. Public policies are decided by the government and parliament.
“Political parties have a duty of responsibility to find concrete solutions so that, in particular, there can be access to housing”.
It is “unacceptable”, Seguro stated, that young people, whom he calls the “blocked generation”, can only leave their parents’ home, on average, at the age of 30. “Having a home is not just having a roof over your head, it is a life project”, he stressed.
“I am concerned, but I have not been concerned for just a week or for the past 15 days. For eight months, since I took office, I have been drawing attention to the need to respond to a blocked generation, to young people, and to people who have difficulty accessing housing,” he said.
Seguro also revealed that he sat down yesterday with Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, with this being one of the topics at the centre of the conversation.
“I have not stood idle (…) I have been active, vigilant, and I will remain vigilant in safeguarding the democratic rule of law in our country”.
“We have an urgent task: to solve the real-life problems of the Portuguese people. There is no magic wand, it cannot be solved with a snap of the fingers”, he conceded, arguing that the role of the President of the Republic is not to “add fuel to the fire”, but to act with “a sense of responsibility and high standards”.
Source: SIC Notícias