The stolen flag and the deputy who doesn’t stand up; the case has “more serious contours” in Évora

The LGBTQIA+ flag was on the City Hall building and was stolen. Gaucho deputy appeared with the flag at a meeting.

The 4th edition of Évora Pride started last Wednesday. The next day, it was already being agitated.

The LGBTQIA+ flag was at the Palácio de D. Manuel, a historic building that is part of the Évora City Council facilities. But the flag was stolen, early the next morning.

The following day, at a Chamber meeting held on Thursday, the municipal deputy from Chega appeared with the flag. “They came to hand me the flag in the morning.”

The deputy in question is Ruben Migueis. And he soon questioned the words of Mayor Carlos Zorrinho, who said that having the LGBTQIA+ flag on the Chamber’s premises “is a tradition”.

“Tradition? Tradition, for me, is bulls and Portuguese culture”, responded Ruben Migueis, in a post.

The councilor reinforced that the “flags that represent us” are only the flags of Portugal and the Évora City Council.

Returning to the meeting: a representative of the Évora Pride commission asked return of the flag. The Chega councilor, who had the flag, didn’t get up. “You can come and get the flag.” The representative of Évora Pride did not stand up either. And an impasse was created there.

Later in the video, Ruben Migueis said: “Others would burn, throw the flag away. I handed the flag over to the municipality. Did I do something wrong?”.

When he asked for the flag to be returned, the Évora Pride representative suggested that it was better to return it because the deputy “doesn’t want to look like a thief”.

“Eu? Burglar? I mean, they give me the flag in the morning, I take it to the City Hall, to be handed over to the municipality, and I am accused of being a thief. I had the decency to deliver to the municipality. You already had a lack of respect for the institution” – continues Ruben, who ends the video with a colorful shirt, reminiscent of the LGBTQIA+ flag.

The subject has already given rise to moments of humor in . But Pedro Ferreira, who was a candidate for Évora City Council for the Bloco de Esquerda (not elected councilor), warns that he is a case that “has other, more serious aspects”.

On the radio, Pedro highlights that the councilor said he received a stolen flag in his hands. “Now if it was given to you by the person who stole it, you will know who it was. If you know that it was stolen and if you received it, according to the penal code, articles nº 231 and nº 232, it confers a crime”.

“In addition to the alleged crime”, the Bloco activist says that Évora is becoming the target of “national mockery” and “a clowning.”