“Unacceptable”. Minister in check after police operation in Martim Moniz

“Someone has to apologize” and “indecorous” statements from Montenegro – and the minister is already being asked to resign.

O BE, PCP and Livre requested the hearing of the Minister of Internal Administration (MAI), Margarida Blasco, not parliament to clarify the , considering it inadequate, disproportionate and likely to create “social alarm”.

Speaking to journalists, the parliamentary leader of BE, Fabian Figueiredo defended that the country “today witnessed degrading, revolting, unseemly images”, in which “dozens of people leaning against the wall for simply being immigrants”.

“This is unacceptable, it is not in line with the principles of the democratic rule of law. (…) It was merely a piece of extreme right-wing propaganda, promoted by the Government and the most serious thing is that the Government does not hide that it instructs security forces to persecute immigrants”, these.

Fabian Figueiredo accused the Government of having “embarked on a campaign of persecution of immigrants” and “instrumentalizing the security forces to carry out an electoral campaign, to compete for electoral support for the extreme right”.

The PCP deputy Antonio Filipe also announced a request to hear the Minister of Internal Administration, Margarida Blasco, “taking into account the form of the police operation” in Martim Moniz.

“It was announced that the objective was to contribute to increasing the safety of citizens and complying with six court orders. The images that arrived from this police operation raise doubts regarding its adequacy and proportionality, especially when it is said that the objective is to increase the safety of citizens”, he said.

For the PCP deputy, “one gets the feeling that they could also contribute to creating some social alarm that may not be justifiedr”.

Livre, through the voice of Rui Tavaresargued that “it is very important that the police authorities and their political supervision” clarify whether these operations have “a real reason for existing from a security point of view or if they exist only to respond to the extreme right in the media”.

“If so we have very poorly delivered state authority“, criticized Rui Tavares. For the Livre deputy, “today is a day in which the Government and PSD’s agenda was completely determined by the extreme right.

On social network X, the PT member, Isabel Moreiraasks Luís Montenegro “what decade of the 20th century are we in”.

“Preventive” operation in Martim Moniz? People with their backs against the wall ?What decade of the 20th century are we in,?

— Isabel Moreira (@IsabelLMMoreira)

“Indecorous” and dangerous statements

Former President of the Assembly of the Republic (2015-2022) Iron Rodrigues asserted himself shocked with what he observed from this Thursday’s police operation and with the “unseemly statements” by the Prime Minister.

“I am in a state of shock with what happened in Mouraria”, on Thursday, said the former general secretary of the PS (2002 and 2004), in a message sent to the Lusa news agency.

Ferro Rodrigues highlighted in particular a photo displayed “with dozens of people leaning against the walls in front of armed police, as if they were at war”.

In an interview with , the president of the National Council for Migration and Asylum, Antonio Vitorinoalso disagrees with Luís Montenegro, stating that these types of operations serve to combat crime and not to create the idea that there are ethnicities or specific groups of people involved in these cases.

“The police presence, the existence of police operations that aim to pursue criminals makes perfect sense in a democratic society. The attempt to create the idea that these police actions target a certain group, that’s what I think truly wrong and it is dangerous (…) this also does not give credibility to security operations for the population”, he highlighted.

This was the second operation of this type in Martim Moniz, an area of ​​Lisbon known for welcoming hundreds of immigrants, within the space of a month.

“Someone has to apologize to these people”

This Friday, the president of the Board of Parish of Santa Maria Maior, in Lisbon, where the raid was carried out asked Margarida Blasco to resign.

“What happened yesterday is typical of a dictatorship Islamic or Latin American. I believe, as a citizen and mayor, that there are no conditions for the Minister of Internal Administration to continue”, said Miguel Coelho (PS), to Lusa.

Furthermore, the mayor considered, “the police commands they have to explain why they closed an entire street and put people against the wall. Would they be able to do this in Campo de Ourique, Avenidas Novas, Lumiar?”

“Someone needs to apologize to these people and, since the President of the Republic is not going there [Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa]I’ll go there.” The way the operation was carried out, he added, “creates a perception that insecurity and danger are in a community.”

“This will encourage hatred and racism and will not solve anything. It was a show off unbelievable on the part of the police commands”, he highlighted.

Miguel Coelho lamented that “it is now fashionable to target the immigrant population of the Indian subcontinent”, something he considers “wrong”, because “they are mostly peaceful people“.

“These are people who bring food to our home. They are people who are in the fields harvesting the fruit that we eat. These are people who are making all companies fat, who are exploited by businesspeople and are humble people. It’s not because of them that I feel any sense of insecurity here. Some work at the Board, in urban hygiene”, he concluded.