Lino Sousa Loureiro died trying to defend police from terrorist attack
The International Association of Portuguese Descendants (AILD) has called on French authorities to recognise the “heroic act” of 69-year-old Portuguese Lino Sousa Loureiro, murdered on Saturday in Mulhouse, France.
In a statement sent to Lusa, AILD recalls how Loureiro lost “his life in defence of French police officers in the face of terrorist acts”.
His bravery has already been acknowledged by prime minister Luís Montenegro, who conceded Loureiro may well have saved other people’s lives, even though he lost his own.
AILD wants France’s president Macron “to recognise the heroism of this Portuguese citizen” by awarding him, posthumously, the National Medal of Recognition for Victims of Terrorism, which was created in 2016 following the attacks in Paris in January and November 2015.
The medal is an honorary order of France, established by presidential decree, and awarded to those who have been victims of terrorism.
President Macron said on Saturday that there was no doubt that the attack was an “act of terrorism” and “Islamic”.
The speaker of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, also reacted to the horror, saying she was “shocked” and assuring that “Europe is determined in the fight against terrorism”.
source: LUSA
