“We won’t be intimidated”, vows Ergue-te leader
A street action planned for Martim Moniz by far-right political party Ergue-te to mark the end of the electoral campaign tomorrow has been refused permission by Lisbon City Council, on the basis of an opinion given by PSP police.
Ergue-te president, former judge Rui Fonseca e Castro, stresses the event will be going ahead anyway.
Talking to Lusa from Viana do Castelo, he said the party “will not be intimidated.
“We are not afraid. We have right on our side. Not just moral right, but legal and juridical right. Mayor Moedas cannot intimidate us. We are capable of many sacrifices to save this our country. Tomorrow we will be in place, with all civility and urbanity”, said the man who most recently hit the headlines for ‘kidnapping’ his own son.
Risk of upsetting public order
Mayor Moedas’ reasons for refusing permission to Ergue-te lie in the chosen venue (an area with a large number of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent) and the general message of Ergue-te. He has described the party’s plan as “an affront to the dignity of resident communities in Lisbon and a threat to democratic coexistence”.
Fonseca e Castro however has said this is not a demonstration per se, but more a street action during an electoral campaign. As such, he believes Ergue-te has the right to hold it.
“I am the president of a party that is running in these elections (…) I have the right to exercise my party-political freedom wherever I want to, as long as it does not offend rules like the penal code, and each person’s individual rights”.
The problem, as far as PSP police see it, explains SIC, is that Ergue-te wants to stage its action in Martim Moniz, where “a significant Hindu and Muslim community live and work, with visible expressions of collective identity, places of worship and religious practices”.
If the party holds up banners (as it has done in the past) displaying the Christian cross, or alludes somehow to the consumption of pork – “a food forbidden by various religious practices” – there could be trouble. Indeed, the plan apparently is for Ergue-te to hold a BBQ in Martim Moniz square, with pork involved.
Ergue-te’s message is that Martim Moniz is no longer for the Portuguese – something that many locals have already said multiple times, without making it a provocation. And the party says that Mayor Moedas refusal to grant permission to tomorrow’s event is proof of that.
“The Portuguese are no longer welcome there because if we show that we are Portuguese in (Martim Moniz) we are subjected to the most basic and boorish repression by the regime, in this case through Lisbon City Council and with the police carrying out their orders,” says Fonseca e Castro.
Thus, it is a case of ‘wait and see’. The last demonstration in Martim Moniz, also involving Fonseca e Castro, ended with clashes with anti-fascist demonstrators and a number of arrests.
Source material: SIC Notícias
