The initiative includes the inauguration of a mural in the neighborhood, concerts by local and amateur artists, the recording of a ‘mini podcast’ with residents and food stalls.
Residents of the Zambujal neighborhood, in Amadora, will pay tribute on Saturday to Odair Moniz and other young “victims of police violence”, in an initiative that will include music, gastronomy and political interventions, according to the organization.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, Edgar Carvalho, from the Zambujal Residents Association, a neighborhood in the municipality of Amadora where the young man shot by the PSP last year lived, explained that the objective of the event is also to “raise awareness of the problems that affect the community”.
Edgar Carvalho explained that the initiative, starting at 3pm, includes the inauguration of a mural in the neighborhood, concerts by local artists and amateurs, the recording of a ‘mini podcast’ with residents and food stalls.
“It’s an initiative to show the various problematic aspects of the neighborhood. The way the police arrive in the neighborhood, the health problems, the housing problems. They are not resolved and we want to impact these situations”, he explained.
This event will also feature the participation of some public figures such as model Cláudio Gonçalves and Cape Verdean singer Dynamo.
Death after police chase
Odair Moniz died in Cova da Moura, also in the municipality of Amadora (Lisbon district), victim of two shots fired by a PSP agent on October 21, 2024, in a police chase.
The PSP said at the time that the man “ran away” in a car after seeing a police vehicle and “got into trouble” in Cova da Moura, where, when approached by the agents, “he resisted arrest and tried to attack them using a sharp weapon”.
According to the Public Ministry’s accusation, the 43-year-old Cape Verdean tried to escape from the PSP and resist arrest, but There was no threat using a sharp weapon, which contradicts the official police statement.
The trial of the agent suspected of the homicide was scheduled for Wednesday, but was postponed until October 22 due to the health of a lawyer.
The agent acknowledged during the first interrogation at the Judiciary Police that He was not threatened with a bladed weapon, contrary to what he wrote in the news report.
Case motivated social protest
In the days following Odair’s death, there were riots in Zambujal and other neighborhoods in the Lisbon Metropolitan Areawhere buses, cars and rubbish bins were burned and vandalised, resulting in around two dozen detainees and as many suspects being identified. Seven people were injured, one of whom — a bus driver — seriously.
The case put the problem ofstructural and systemic racism, living conditions in neighborhoods and public policies implemented in these territories, the relationship between security forces and communities and the conditions under which the police themselves operate.
On October 26, 2024, thousands of people descended Avenida da Liberdade, in Lisbon, responding to the demonstration called by the Vida Justa movement to honor the Cape Verdean citizen, denounce police violence and cry out that “without justice there is no peace”.
A few days later, the Government convened associations representing communities in the Lisbon area “to dialogue” and listen to their proposals to combat racism and police violence.
Without presenting concrete measures, the executive promised support for housing, health and education, to improve the concrete lives of people in the neighborhoods.
