The departure of Rui Moreira and the councilors from the independent movement came after criticism from deputy Susana Constante Pereira, from BE, of the relationship between the city council and the assembly, within the scope of public consultations.
Giving as an example the regulation of street entertainers and the statements made by the councilor with the respective department that the political forces had not spoken out, the BE deputy said she was concerned “with what is meant by public consultation”.
“The space for participation of political forces is not the same space for citizens”, he said, adding that “pointing out flaws in political forces for not participating in this context is a distorted view of local democracy”.
After the intervention, Rui Moreira stood up, saying that “an attack” on the executive was advocated, which, at that time, could not be defended.
Like Rui Moreira, the remaining councilors from the independent movement stood up and left the room.
The executive only returned to the meeting when the period of interventions by political forces had ended, with the president of the chamber taking the floor to demonstrate his disagreement with what had happened.
“The parties’ time must be used to make political statements and not to challenge the executive, which cannot intervene. From now on, whenever it is the parties’ time, the executive will leave because we are not punching bags”, stated Rui Moreira.
And he added, “if the political forces understand that the time is to question and contest the executive’s action, we cannot do anything other than leave.”
