Police union slams “political, media hype” over recent Lisbon riots

Portugal’s trade union association for police professionals (ASPP/PSP) has criticised the “political, journalistic and media exploitation” of the riots that followed the death of Cape Verde citizen Odair Moniz, calling for more investment in the police and in neighbourhood policing. “We accept the legitimacy, the importance and the need to inform and comment, but we criticise all the unqualified noise, with empty labels, unfounded accusations, observations without factual knowledge of the incidents and the police mission, omission and/or misrepresentation of the truth, the permanence of various actors substituting themselves for the PSP National Directorate in addressing operational and other issues,” said the PSP’s most representative union.