The protest is set to take place this coming Saturday (28 February) afternoon.
Paulo Costa, one of the protest’s organisers, told The Portugal News: “We are neither against the consulate nor its employees; we are against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which does not give them the means to attend the more than 100,000 Portuguese who have arrived in the UK over the past four years.
“They haven’t even created ways of helping us remotely.”
As a result, Mr. Costa explains, “Any appointment takes between two to three months [to secure] and there are no guarantees of being seen – the services are so stretched that if any staff are off there are people who are not seen.
“At the end of January it reached such a point that the consulate had to call in the police.”
After the protest the organisers will be handing in a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Meanwhile, the State Secretary for Portuguese Communities José Cesário, whose office falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has visited the Consulate General in London.
Last Friday the government announced that it would be bolstering its staff at consulates in London, Paris, Stuttgart, Geneva and Venezuela from March.
However, State Secretary Cesário said a boost of human resources at the London consulate won’t immediately improve the slowness of its services.
Speaking specifically of the London Consulate General, he said: “I admit that it won’t completely solve all of the problems. I admit, in time, it may be necessary to further reinforce this consulate.”
The boost of four employees will take the number of staff working at the Consulate to eight.
José Cesário has said it is a “contribution” towards solving the problems with its customer services.
He further stressed his visit to London was not spurred by the protest set to take place on Saturday and that the recently-announced reinforcement measures are part of an “investment programme” in Portugal’s consular network.
“We are making an effort to improve the service”, he said, adding: “We hope it becomes much better than it is today.”
According to Lusa News Agency the Consulate General in London sees a daily average of 300 people and carries out 4,000 consular acts per month.
An official source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week told The Portugal News that the Portuguese community under the jurisdiction of the Portuguese Consulate General in London has “seen significant growth” in recent years.
“During the year of 2014, 54,230 consular acts were carried out” by the London Consulate General, the source explained.
“Given this growth of the Portuguese community, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working towards creating solutions that allow us to ensure a better service for the resident community.”