Lisbon unrest over police shooting of Black man ebbs, protests planned

By Sergio Goncalves and Andrei Khalip

LISBON (Reuters) – Lisbon’s outer suburbs were calmer overnight amid a heavy police presence, but planned protests on Saturday could bring more clashes after three nights of car and bus torchings over the police shooting of a Cape Verde-born Portuguese resident.

Small groups of hooded assailants hurled stones at a bus and set ablaze trash bins in several multicultural neighbourhoods on the outskirts, police said on Friday, adding that overall the violence was much reduced.

A rights group and a far-right party have both announced protests on Saturday in central Lisbon. The relatively small size of the historic centre means the two groups could overlap.

Police have been out in force in the suburbs since unrest broke out over Monday’s shooting of Odair Moniz, a 43-year-old chef, in the Amadora suburb.

After visiting some of the suburbs on Thursday night, head of PSP police, Luis Carrilho, told reporters the situation was “finally calmer”, thanking officers for the “excellent work” they were doing.

Rights group Vida Justa has called a peaceful protest against police violence and warned of possible provocations by far-right elements who it said were spreading fake online messages calling for violence and posing as people representing the neighbourhoods.

Far-right, anti-immigration party Chega has called a separate rally, also in central area of the city, in support of the police. Senior Chega lawmaker Pedro Pinto told broadcaster RTP that “if the security forces shot more to kill, the country would have more order”.

Portugal ranks as the 7th most peaceful country in the world, according to the Global Peace Index. But the latest national security report says violent crime rose 5.6% last year from 2022 levels to 14,022 cases, more than a third of them in greater Lisbon.

MONIZ WAS LAW-ABIDING, PEACEFUL, CAPE VERDE AMBASSADOR SAYS

Anti-racism group SOS Racismo has said that “the deaths of black people at the hands of police officers raise the greatest doubts and concerns about the real motivations” for police actions such as Monday’s shooting of Moniz.

According to a police statement, Moniz fled and crashed a car after seeing a police vehicle and then tried to attack approaching officers with a blade before an officer opened fire.

Several Portuguese media quoted police sources as saying the officer later told investigators that there was no blade involved. Reuters was unable to reach a representative of the officer for comment.

The prosecutor’s office said a man, who it did not name, was being investigated as a suspect in a homicide investigation, without giving any further details.

Cape Verde’s ambassador to Portugal, Eurico Correia Monteiro, wrote to leaders of the local community linked to the west African island nation lamenting the death at the hands of police of Moniz, “who according to credible accounts was a law-abiding, peaceful working person”.

His letter called on the immigrant community to repudiate the violence seen in the recent days since it “feeds ideologies that present immigrants as marginals and criminals, enemies of natives of host countries and the cause of almost all evil”.

Police deployed in force on Thursday and said they would have “zero tolerance” towards “any act of disorder carried out by criminal groups”. They have detained 16 people since Tuesday. Four buses and 16 cars have been set on fire and seven people injured.

Last year, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said it was concerned about information pointing to excessive use of force by police in Portugal particularly “against people of African descent”.

In 2017, prosecutors charged 18 officers at a police station in Alfragide on the outskirts of Lisbon with torture, kidnapping, falsifying reports and other crimes allegedly motivated by racism in a case filed by six Black youths. Eight were sentenced to pay compensation and only one was sentenced to a prison term.

Hate crimes in Portugal increased by 38% last year from 2022, according to police data. At least 14 people have been killed in racist attacks, including by police officers, since the 1990s, said Portuguese anti-racism platform Kilombo.