Billboards appearing throughout the country supporting the bid for the Presidency of the Republic by CHEGA leader André Ventura are causing outrage in multiple corners.
The “This is not Bangladesh” message has prompted a call for explanations from the Bangladeshi embassy in Lisbon, while the “Gypsies must comply with the law” billboard has riled various gypsy associations.
With wider society divided – and presidential candidates censorious – André Ventura’s candidacy is definitely getting talked about (which presumably is the whole idea…)
Social networks even have bizarre videos circulating, of a look-alike (AI generated) Ventura, dancing to a song also insisting “this is not Bangladesh”. The videos carry images of various supposed scenes in Portugal involving immigrants from Bangladesh.
The embassy has since put out a message, in Bengali, “asking all Bangladeshi expatriates to remain calm, sober and peaceful at all times. The appropriate authorities are being contacted by the embassy regarding this matter”.
This is definitely not the first time videos have appeared showing the extraordinary changes to the social fabric of certain areas of Portugal (well over a year ago, there was a video circulating over Youtube, made ostensibly by a young Indian visitor who wondered out loud whether he was in India when he arrived in Lisbon) – but it is definitely the first time billboards with these kinds of messages have been used by a candidate to the highest political office in the country.
In this context, fellow candidate Luís Marques Mendes, a man as discreet as Ventura is the opposite, assured people yesterday that André Ventura “cannot and will not become President of the Republic”.
In Marques Mendes’ viewpoint, André Ventura’s stance “divides Portuguese” and “undermines democracy”. Indeed, Mr Ventura’s real aim is to become Portugal’s next prime minister, not president of the Republic, stresses the former political commentator for SIC Notícias. “He only knows how to live on the basis of noise, confusion and provocation. And for this reason, a person like that could not be President of the Republic, nor will he be President of the Republic”.
Meantime, efforts are underway to ensure the offending billboards are brought down: eight gypsy associations claim they are “violating the law of non-discrimination” at the very least. Others talk of incitement to hatred/ racism/ xenophobia.
Source material: SIC/ Correio da Manhã/ social networks
