Various Carris routes have been cancelled or diverted, affecting thousands of users
Carris and Carris Metropolitana drivers are feeling unsafe travelling through certain areas at night following the riots that took place last week, and the hideous injuries suffered by one of their own at the hands of a mob armed with molotov cocktails.
As a result, a number of nighttime services have either been cancelled altogether, or diverted.
Reports concede this is negatively affecting thousands of passengers – but terrified drivers cannot be forced into problematic areas. Thus, routes like the 714 which ends in the Outurela neighbourhood in Oeiras, and the 754 which passes through Zambujal (Cova da Moura) where Odair Moniz was shot and killed have either had night services cancelled altogether, or diverted to areas where drivers feel more comfortable circulating.
The National Union of Drivers and Other Workers stresses that violence against drivers “is nothing new” – but the kind of incident that leaves them with 3rd degree burns, fighting for their lives, possibly unable to work again, is.
SIC Notícias has added today that even though press focus on vandalism is waning, it has persisted through the weekend, with another case of a Carris bus being stoned, in Arrentela, Seixal, on Monday night.
Meantime, the GoFundMe appeal for the 41-year-old driver who narrowly escaped with his life during the attack on his bus has raised over €56,000, and continues open as citizens show their solidarity with a completely innocent victim of last week’s rioting who remains in hospital with a very reserved prognosis.
This is Tiago’s ‘story’, as recounted by a friend last Thursday writing on the Carris Metropolitana Facebook page:
“Yesterday at 1.20am Tiago was attacked as he was finishing his last journey home. Everything indicates that it was an attack planned in detail, given that it was the last journey to Cidade Nova. At the last stop on the route, the terminal stop, a group of 9 people appeared from everywhere and took advantage of the fact that Tiago had the driver’s window open and threw a Molotov cocktail at him, which landed directly on his lap, immediately setting his body on fire!
“Tiago, although stable, is still fighting for his life in hospital! Tiago left the burning bus, screaming in despair! The cowards who attacked him with their faces covered fled, leaving Tiago to his fate, agonising in pain, to be rescued by residents of the buildings next to the bus, which at that moment was already engulfed in flames. Tiago didn’t know Odair (Moniz), Tiago didn’t kill Odair, Tiago isn’t even a policeman. That night Tiago was just a bus driver who was minutes away from finishing his day and going home to his family. My only question, which I have no answer to and never will, is why did they try to kill Tiago? It wasn’t an accident, even the least intelligent person knew that by throwing a bottle full of burning fuel through the driver’s window the first impact would be exactly on the driver’s body! Tiago is stable but in a very serious condition! His arms, head, face, chest and airways are badly burnt. Tiago was just doing his job.
“To Tiago, I owe you an apology, I’m disappointed in myself for being so close to your attack, hearing the explosions but not realising it was your bus exploding while you were in agony from the burns all over your body and not being able to help you. Get well soon my boy! We’ll do everything we can to ensure that justice works and that whoever attacked you gets the fate they deserve. The next few months won’t be easy, but we’ll find a way to help you.
“Yesterday in this group someone told me that I was dramatising when I said that the drivers were at risk of their lives, going so far as to tell me that it’s the nurses, firemen and police who are at risk! Yesterday, a few hours later, they tried to kill Tiago behind the wheel of a bus”.
