Lisbon City Council concerned about member of the neo-Nazi group MAL in the Municipal Police

A head of the PSP linked to the neo-Nazi group MAL allegedly accessed the personal data of Luís Montenegro and those responsible for the Lisbon City Council. The case led BE to demand explanations and the city hall to condemn neo-Nazi extremism, defending the determination of responsibilities.

The Lisbon City Council expressed this Wednesday “deep concern” about the identification of political office holders as violent by the neo-Nazi group Movimento Armilar Lusitano (MAL), with BE asking about failures in data protection.

In a public meeting of the municipal executive, the sole BE councilor, Carolina Serraoquestioned the PSD/CDS-PP/IL government about the involvement in the neo-Nazi group Movimento Armilar Lusitano (MAL) of a PSP chief, who was on a service commission at the Lisbon Municipal Police.

“Even more serious”, says Serrão, alluding to recent news, is that this person accessed personal data of the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegroas well as people from the local authority, such as the mayor, Carlos Moedas.

“We are facing a serious failure in security systems of data protection. We want to know whether the executive was aware of this situationo, what internal investigations were carried out and what measures are being taken to determine responsibilities and ensure that situations like these will not happen again”, asked the blocker.

In response, Moedas said that, “obviously had no information about it” and that was not informed of anything on this subject.

“Really It is regrettable that affected citizens are not informedwhatever the citizen,” complained the PSD mayor, without responding to BE’s questions about what measures were taken by the municipality.

João Ferreirafrom the PCP, criticized the lack of intervention by the person in charge of the Municipal Police regarding this matter.

On a proposal from BE, approved with the abstention from Chega and the votes in favor of the remaining ones, the executive decided “express deep concern due to the existence of an extremist organization that identified public office holders and municipal representatives as targets of potential violent actions”.

In the same deliberation, the municipal executive “firmly condemned all forms of ideology neo-Nazi, racist, xenophobic and anti-democratic“, as well as any attempts at intimidation or violence against elected officials, activists, citizens, political parties or civil society organizations.

The Chamber also highlighted the severity of the presence of elements linked to public forces or services in neo-Nazi organizationsdefending the rigorous determination of responsibilities.

The approved text also reaffirms the commitment of the municipality of Lisbon to defending democracy, fundamental rights, equality and non-discrimination.

The neo-Nazi group, which had among its alleged leaders the head of the PSP on a service commission at the Lisbon Municipal Police, is accused of several crimes.

According to the Public Ministry’s accusation, cited by several media outlets, he even discussed a attack on the residence of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro.

Last week, the newspaper reported that MAL maintained a list of more than 120 people and entities considered “undesirable”including Carlos Moedas and other municipal office holders.

Names like António Costa, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Cavaco Silva, Marques Mendes, Carlos Moedas, Rui Tavares and the Mortágua sisters were on the list of targeted politicians. Various figures from humor or culture, such as Ricardo Araújo Pereira, Nuno Markl or Clara Não were also mentioned.