“If it’s about creating conditions of humanity so that people who are here and even those who can’t stay here are treated well, I think it’s good. If that’s the case, I think it’s good,” said the mayor.

On the sidelines of the international conference Urban Security 5.0, The Challenges in the Age of Intelligence, Rui Moreira said, however, that he did not “exactly” understand the intention announced by the government.

On Sunday, at the end of the 42nd National Congress of the PSD, the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, presented “seven new decisions” for Portugal, one of which was the creation of two reception centres for immigrants, one in Porto and the other in Lisbon.

Asked about the topic, Rui Moreira considered the intention to be positive, above all, so that immigrants who are not legal “do not need to sleep under bridges”.

“If the person can be installed in a place to check whether they can be legalised, if they cannot, if they have a problem that they have to return to their country of origin, I think it is great if there is reception capacity”, he added.

In a conference dedicated, above all, to the challenges facing urban security, the topic of immigration was also addressed, with the mayor arguing that cosmopolitan cities require “open societies”.

“We have to be able to explain to the population that whoever lives here is from Porto Alegre, regardless of whether they were born here or not,” he said.

Rui Moreira also said “I can’t take the complaints” that people don’t understand multiculturalism.

“Cities are no one’s property. Public space belongs to all of us”, he said, highlighting the need for public space to also be “the living room” of a city.

“The moment the public space becomes that, it also becomes safer”, he added.

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