The candidate for President of the Republic refused that the messages appearing in the first posters alluding to his candidacy – “This is not Bangladesh” and “Gypsies must obey the law” – have racist content.
“I regret that in Portugal there is a group of associations of people who, sincerely, are always giving the justice system trouble in things that should not be within the sphere of justice. We live in a free country, we must know how to live in democracy. Opponents in democracy cannot be defeated by arresting them, or by ordering posters to be removed, or by having their speech taken away, or by silencing them, opponents in democracy are defeated by debate, with confrontation of ideas”, he stated.
In statements to journalists in parliament, on the sidelines of the discussion of the André Ventura considered that the calls for the removal of the posters constitute “an attack on freedom of expression”.
“After all, April’s friends, the guys with the carnation in their hands, who say ‘freedom until the end’, when they don’t like the word and the expression, it’s prison, removal of posters, precautionary measures”, he criticized.
Regarding the PS leader’s appeal for the intervention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to apply possible sanctions because of the posters, considering that “stimulate hatred”, André Ventura dramatized:
“He appealed to the Public Ministry, but for what? I mean, is it for the Public Ministry to arrest the leader of the opposition? Do you think this is a good image for the country abroad, that the leader of the opposition is arrested because of his freedom of expression?”
“What we say is obvious”
The candidate for President of the Republic refused that the messages appearing in the first posters alluding to his candidacy – “This is not Bangladesh” and “Gypsies must obey the law” – have racist content.
“Those who promote racism in Portugal are those minorities that for years we have had to pay them for everything and they do nothing and force us to work for them. That’s what racism is, ask any community that lives next to that other community.”, he retorted.
André Ventura highlighted that it is “representative of the Portuguese” and “no one else”.
“No authority external to this country has any decision-making power nor will it influence any decision of mine or the Chega party on politics. What we say is obvious, this is not Bangladesh,” he said.
The candidate appealed to his opponents to choose the path of political debate, arguing that the difference in ideas derives from democracy.
“I will certainly be in the studio with all the candidates for President of the Republic and they will be able to say whether or not they agree that gypsies have to comply with the law, they will be able to say whether or not they agree that we are not in Bangladesh. It’s not arresting, it’s not attacking. Justice has more to do than looking at posters”, he defended, asking that “Justice not waste time and money on democracy”.
The posters for André Ventura’s presidential candidacy, recently placed across the country, have been the target of criticism and eight gypsy associations have announced that they will file a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office and are considering taking precautionary measures to have them removed.
