Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has condemned what he described as “direct threats” against his home and family after a video emerged showing a protest speaker calling for his address to be found and a brick thrown at his property.
The footage, released by the Prime Minister’s official residence in Lisbon on Friday, October 16, shows a man addressing a crowd at night, apparently during a demonstration linked to protests over Portugal’s housing crisis.
“We need to find the Prime Minister’s address and throw a brick,” the speaker says in Portuguese with a Brazilian accent, before declaring that peaceful protest is no longer enough.
“That’s it! Yesterday was the end of it. No more of this peaceful nonsense. Yes, we need to burn something,” he adds.
According to CNN Portugal, which reported the incident, the exact location and date of the recording have not been established, although the government appears to associate it with recent housing demonstrations in Porto.
Speaking in Brussels, where he was attending a European Council meeting, Montenegro said the footage contained a direct appeal for violence and an attempt to introduce forms of confrontation seen in other countries.
He said one of the speeches delivered during the demonstrations had gone as far as threatening “the home of the Prime Minister and his family”.
Despite his criticism, Montenegro insisted that he respected the right of citizens to protest and express frustration over the country’s housing difficulties.
“We fully understand that people want answers,” he said, acknowledging that demonstrators were entitled to criticise what they considered shortcomings in government policy.
“We have every respect for expressions of indignation, concern and political opinion on all matters, and naturally on housing,” he added.
However, he drew a distinction between legitimate protest and calls for violence, arguing that the latter could not be justified by dissatisfaction with government policies.
The Prime Minister also defended his administration’s record on housing, insisting that significant measures had been introduced to increase the supply of both public and private homes.
He pointed to the government’s decision to raise its target for the construction and renovation of homes under Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) to 59,000 properties.
Montenegro also highlighted changes to planning and building regulations intended to accelerate housing development and bring more properties onto the market.
Among measures aimed at helping buyers, he cited exemptions from property transfer tax (IMT) and stamp duty for eligible first-time buyers aged up to 35, alongside a state-backed mortgage guarantee that can allow qualifying young buyers to obtain financing covering the full purchase price.
The controversy comes amid growing public frustration over housing affordability in Portugal, with demonstrations drawing attention to rising property prices, high rents and the difficulties faced by residents trying to secure suitable accommodation.
Further protests over Portugal’s housing crisis are scheduled to take place in Lisbon, Coimbra and Porto today (Saturday, October 17), as public pressure mounts over rising rents, property prices and the shortage of affordable homes.