The call to action will include a series of demonstrations across the country, but more importantly for the general population as a whole, it will also see officers exercising much greater leniency and restraint when it comes to issuing citizens with fines for offences such as transgressions of the Highway Code.
Not fining offenders is an act which in itself is against the law, and as a result, police unions have not explicitly confirmed this type of action.
However, PSP police, whose task it is to patrol Portugal’s urban areas, have been asked by unions to “favour educational actions” and be “non-repressive” during the five weeks of protests.
In total, more than 23,000 officers will now have the choice to heed their unions’ calls and totally avoid issuing traffic fines or other punitive measures.
Unions have explained that officers will be encouraged to be as indulgent as possible with offending citizens, so long as their leniency does not affect the greater good of the general public as a whole.
Similar action was staged eight years ago, but at the time, it was only decreed for the period of one week.
Estimates at the time said the action resulted in a drop of approximately 80 percent in the revenue the state obtained from the payment of traffic fines.
Provisional figures reveal that state coffers have been boosted by an average of just under ten million euros a month during the first third of the year from revenue obtained from traffic fines alone.
The strike against fines also comes at an awkward time for the government, with September set to be dominated by election campaigning for the 4 October ballot.
Union leaders have accused the government of “not being worthy of any trust”, despite the Home Minister Anabela Rodrigues saying she was working on approving the professional statutes for PSP officers and intended to have the process concluded by the end of the month.