Rui Minderico / Lusa
The four Portuguese detained by Israel returns to Portugal. Sofia Aparício and Mariana Mortágua hug
The four Portuguese who were part of the Global Sumud Humanitarian Flotilla landed on Sunday night at Humberto Delgado airport in Lisbon and were greeted by a multitude of pro-palestine supporters.
One crowd “Invaded” tonight the atrium of the arrivals of Lisbon airport to receive the four Portuguese activists, who participated in the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza.
If about an hour before the arrival of the plane that brought them from Madrid the activists were about three dozen, after 22:32, the time the aircraft landed, the arrived zone was taken by more than 1,000 people, estimated a police source to Lusa agency, which created a security perimeter to allow the atrium to exit atrium from Mariana Mortágua, Sofia Aparício, Miguel Duarte and Diogo Chaves.
Swallowed by the crowd, which shouted anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian and against the Portuguese government, the four activists were surprised by the reception and “dragged” by the police cord outside the airport atrium.
With the police leaving them in an area already outside the atrium and dispersing, the four activists were left to a moment, the discovered, the opportunity for journalists to hear the statements of Portuguese participants in the Global Sumud flotilha who, visibly tired, reported the hours lived during arrest in Israel.
Between shouts of “Long Live the Fight of the Palestinian People, Israel is a murderous state”, “Free Palestine” and, in a direct accusation to the chief of Portuguese diplomacy, “Paulo Rangel is a dick sent from Israel”, the first words of the Left Bloc coordinator (BE) allowed them to generate silence among the supporters.
The four Portuguese activists were welcomed by a crowd at Lisbon airport.
In the first statements on arrival, Mariana Mortágua pointed out that the activists realized “the difference in that arrest between being European and being Palestinian.”
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Mariana Mortágua described how difficult the time she was arrested in Israel but said that Much worse should pass the detainees Palestinians.
“[Percebemos a diferença naquela prisão] Between being Europeans and Palestinians, and as much as it was difficult for us, and it was, and however, there were abuse, and there were many, this gave us an idea of the degree of impunity of the Israeli forces against Palestinians, ”he said tonight on arrival in Lisbon.
Mariana Mortágua said he had no criticism in relation to consular services, but for the government, for not applying sanctions to Israel.
The blocked leader stated that in prison he saw “comrades to be beaten and taken”, which were several hours handcuffed and detained in real “cages”.
Questioned by journalists if it had been worth it, said yesadding that if Israel did what you did to the detainees of the flotilla imagine what you will not do to the Palestinian prisoners.
Activist Miguel Duarte also told journalists at the same time that There are no rights of prisoners in Israeli chainsand if the Portuguese detainees who were part of the flotilla had some protection, they were European and for mobilizations around the world in support of the flotilha.
Miguel Duarte spoke equally from “Beating comrades”of detainees 24 and 48 hours without eating or drinkingsome with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, and without medication, people put “in jaura in the sun”.
The activist also explained that they were handed over documents and were pressured to sign, He realized later that the document said that the detainees accepted that Israel had legally captured them and taken to Israel.
“We refused to sign and Israeli soldiers used our passports and falsified our signatures To show that we accepted that we were legally intercepted. It must be clear, We were illegally intercepted And taken against our will to Israel, ”he said.
Mariana Mortágua also mentioned that while being detained, they were unaware of what was going on and that they speculated on what the mobilization in Portugal and each other country would be in relation to “illegal performance by Israel”.
The actress Sofia Aparício complained about being mistreated during the detentionhaving been handcuffed like everyone else, while Diogo Chaves said It cost “a lot from arrest” Israelite “and leave comrades behind”.
“But we also had the idea that we had to come home early so we could fight for those who stayed there and the Palestinian cause,” he said.
The four Portuguese activists have been detained in Israel from Wednesday to Thursday, when Israeli forces intercepted the about 50 vessels of the Global Sumud flotilha, which intended to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Several protesters wielded flags, slogans of Palestine and posters with slogans such as “Free Palestine”, “Welcome, Heroes” and “Thank you Mariana, Sofia, Diogo and Miguel for representing us.”
Among the protesters were old and current leaders of the left block as Francisco Loução, Catarina Martins, Luís Fazenda, Jorge Costa and others.
The activists traveled from Telavive to Spain following, after a brief scale in Madrid, to Lisbon. The Portuguese arrived in Madrid around 8:20 pm (less one hour in Lisbon) integrated into a group of 29 activists: four Portuguese, 21 Spanish and four Dutch.
In representation of the government, the activists are received in Lisbon by the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Emídio Sousa.
