Protests in various neighbourhoods over fatal shooting of Odair Moniz
For the second night running there have been various outbursts of violence in areas of Greater Lisbon as gangs react to the fatal shooting by police of father-of-two Odair Moniz in the early hours of Monday.
The ignition point of disturbances in Cova da Moura, Amadora – where Moniz was shot (reportedly three times) – saw rioters hurl stones and other objects at PSP ‘rapid intervention agents’ as they went in during the early hours.
Reports describe agents having been mobilised from all seven police stations that exist in the borough, backed by special units.
On the road that links Alfragide with Damaia, one group of rioters used a mattress to try and set light to a fuel station.
Elsewhere, there were outbreaks of violence in Carnide, Campo de Ourique, Loures and Carnaxide – the latter area seeing a group ‘hijack’ a Carris bus, ordering the driver and passengers out of it, before taking it off and setting it on fire..
In other area rubbish bins were set alight. In Loures, a car was torched.
Reports coming through in the early hours, also described another bus being set on fire in Zambujal “by a group of young people”.
This far it appears that three people have been arrested – two for arson and assaulting police offers, another also for arson but compounded by possession of combustible material.
Minister of Interior Administration Margarida Blasco has condemned the violence as “perfectly unacceptable”. An emergency meeting of the Internal Security System has already taken place, but Ms Blasco has not said much of what it entailed.
“I won’t reveal any operational action here. What I would like to assure the Portuguese is that the security forces will do everything they can to maintain order and detain those who have taken part in these disturbances,” she said from Faro where she is taking part in the 35th Luso-Iberian summit.
‘Acts of vandalism that jeopardise public order and security’
Ms Blasco classified the riots as “acts of vandalism that jeopardise public order and security” and stressed that everything will be done “to bring all those who took part in these riots to justice”.
“I would like to say that the PSP, in conjunction with all the other security forces, are restoring and supporting the people who want to go about their daily lives in a normal way,” she told reporters.
This whole situation has nonetheless shone a glaring spotlight on issues that are never very far from the surface. Cova da Moura has a notorious past involving its residents and PSP police: Monday’s fatal shooting has simply brought all the tensions raging back into the public eye.
This morning, left wing party Bloco de Esquerda has questioned Margarida Blasco’s ministry about an alleged PSP raid on Odair Moniz’s home last night, asking for clarification of the episode as related by his family and their lawyer.
The text, also circulated to the media, informed: “According to reports, there were around 15 officers who approached the flat and broke down and destroyed the door, with three of them entering the house. Once inside, the officers destroyed furniture and assaulted two people, a 19-year-old girl and a family friend who was inside. It was Odair’s partner who managed to get the officers to leave the flat, and the PSP returned about an hour later. By then, the family’s lawyer was already in the flat.“
Signed by the BE’s parliamentary leader, Fabian Figueiredo, the document added that “according to Odair’s family lawyer, the officers were not identified and did not show any judicial warrant to carry out the search”
BE warns that, if confirmed, these facts “are extremely serious and flagrantly violate the most basic rights of citizens, the rule of law and the right to freedom of expression”, as well as undermining citizens’ own trust in the country’s security forces.
“In addition to the death of a citizen shot by the police – the circumstances of which will have to be properly scrutinised – we may be facing a police operation that did not comply with the law and was therefore illegal, disproportionate and unnecessary,” adds the party.
For BE, writes SIC Notícias this morning, “episodes of violence and police brutality should merit the attention of the political authorities and be the subject of the widest public scrutiny, not only because every citizen should have their rights respected and have access to justice, but also because of the risk of creating a stain on all members of the security forces”.
Considering the situation “requires clarification”, BE wants to know if the ministry was aware of it, and what reasons “motivated this PSP operation”. They particularly want to know who ordered it.
This will be the ‘hot subject’ of the day, if not week, while the government has been doing its utmost at ‘positive PR’ in the Algarve.
As has been previously explained, all the unrest stems from the shooting dead of Odair Moniz, 43, in circumstances that have yet to be fully explained.
Videos have been doing the rounds on social media that do not bear out the PSP ‘official narrative’. The whole story has opened an explosive can of worms – and there is no guarantee that last night’s violence will mark an end to the uprisings.
As damages this morning are being ‘totted up’, PSP police inform that there were a total of 60 incidents of disorder and arson, in the municipalities of Lisbon, Amadora, Oeiras, Odivelas, Loures, Cascais, Sintra and Seixal.
Two police vehicles were damaged (one with broken glass and the other shot) and eight cars and a motorbike were set alight, aside from the damages suffered by the two Carris buses.
Two police officers were injured (in Amadora and Oeiras) by stones thrown in their direction, one requiring hospital treatment, the other taking sick leave.
Two other citizens – passengers on one of the buses that was set on fire – were stabbed, although “not seriously”, writes SIC. These passengers were allegedly stabbed by the rioters who hijacked the bus.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
