Thousands of protesters waving Portuguese flags and roaring the national anthem rallied in Lisbon on Sunday to express their anger at "illegal" and "uncontrolled" immigration.Afonso added that European nations were ill-equipped to "decently" take in immigrants who were sometimes "forced to live on the street and fall into crime".

Thousands of people took to the streets of Lisbon and other cities across Portugal on Saturday to protest against soaring rents and house prices, as frustration mounts over a crisis that has priced many out of the housing market.

Demonstrators marched through the capital Lisbon with the Portuguese national flag and carried banners bearing slogans like, 'Expulsion of immigrants who commit crimes'. #EuropeNews

The housing crisis has its roots in a chronic shortage of affordable and social housing, a situation worsened by wealthy foreigners moving to Portugal on the promise of tax breaks.

The number of foreigners living in Portugal jumped by 33.6 percent last year to reach more than one million, about one-tenth of the total population.