Aim is to force government u-turn on immigration controls
A ‘major protest’ powered by dozens of immigrant associations is scheduled to convene outside parliament today in arguably difficult conditions.
First, the focus of the country is elsewhere; second, there is little political interest in the associations’ main ambition, and third ‘this is a weekday’, when many of those called to attend may be working.
As Timotéo Macedo of Solidariedade Imigrante has repeatedly told reporters, the plan behind the protest is to see the controversial “manifestation of interest” regime restored: this was the mechanism by which immigrants could enter the country on a holiday visa, and then apply for residency.
Since the government has scrapped the manifestation of interest mechanism, applications for residency have plummeted, and the workload of AIMA – the agency for integration, migration and asylum, has turned the corner from ‘impossible to cope with’ to ‘on the road to managability’.
As the government has repeatedly stressed, it is not against immigration: it simply wants more control over who comes in, and seeks to ensure they will have means to look after themselves and a job.
The argument of the immigrant associations is that the manifestation of interest mechanism is a human right.
“We are mobilised for this demonstration” Macedo tells Lusa. “We are going to hold a big demonstration with a sit-in and a day of struggle in front of parliament”.
Macedo’s Solidariedade Imigrante is the largest association involved in today’s action, with 150,000 members of almost 200 nationalities.
Says Lusa, “Timóteo Macedo promises to fight for the rights of the most vulnerable, who are essential to the Portuguese economy, as several business associations have pointed out.
“The far right is growing in Portugal and in Europe, with the support of the European Pact (on Migration and Asylum), which was also approved by many Portuguese MPs”, Macedo adds. “We are seeing a protectionist trend, from the closing of borders in Germany to the construction of detention centres for immigrants outside the EU”.
This trend corresponds to “cycles that repeat themselves’, but “the far right has no ground” in Portugal: “We are going to fight back, we’re going to stand up to them,’ promises Macedo, who accuses populist movements of violating the very Western morality they claim to defend.
Source material: LUSA
