There has been some indignation of the perceived lack of interest shown by the government in the fate of the four Portuguese sailing among the flotilla of boats carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza which was ‘stopped in its tracks’ by Israeli military on Wednesday night.
The four – the only MP of the Left Bloc, Mariana Mortágua, actress Sofia Aparício, and activists Miguel Duarte and Diogo Chaves – have been taken to a centre in Israel, from which they will later presumably be deported.
Left Bloc leader Marisa Matias said today that she has received information from the Foreign Ministry that the Portuguese ambassador to Israel, Helena Paiva, is on her way to the centre.
“Unfortunately there isn’t much new information”, she said during an election rally at the municipal market of Condeixa-a-Nova.
“The information we have at the moment is that the Portuguese ambassador to Israel is approaching the detention centre to make contact with the crew members who are being held, but little is known beyond that,” said Matias, who has had to replace Mariana Mortágua on the campaign trail, due to the latter’s absence from Portugal over the last few weeks.
Marisa Matias added that she believes the government should ‘have a firm hand and demand the release’ of the Portuguese four.
“Portugal must have a firm hand and the Portuguese government must take a firm stance, in this specific case, to demand their release,” she said.
Matias is also concerned about the lack of contact that has marked the last couple of days: “It is very worrying, especially for the families, that these people have been detained for so long without being able to make a single contact. It is not normal for people to be detained, and not even be able to make a phone call,” she stressed.
Arrested alongside Portugal’s citizens were 30 Spaniards, 22 Italians, 21 Turks, 12 Malaysians, 11 Tunisians, 11 Brazilians, and 10 French, as well as citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, and Colombia.
Organisers of the initiative have denounced “the lack of information on the whereabouts of a total of 443 participants”, says Lusa.
Protests also quickly erupted across major cities throughout the developed world, including in Portugal, following Wednesday night’s arrests.
Amnesty International called Israel’s actions “an attack on international law and basic humanity”. But critics have suggested the whole exercise was more a PR stunt than a serious attempt to get vital supplies into Gaza.
There are even those attempting to link funding of this flotilla with the terrorist group Hamas.
What this episode has done for the credibility of Mariana Mortágua is also an open question – which may receive an answer in the municipal elections on Sunday October 12.
For the purposes of the elections, the Left Bloc has ‘teamed up with LIVRE’ in a number of areas, under the slogan “together we are stronger”.
sources: LUSA/ Independent/ SIC/ Euronews
