Visits Cova da Moura, speaks with family of Odair Moniz – and with mother of badly burned bus driver
With pockets of unrest still scarring the capital in the wake of the police shooting almost two weeks ago of Odair Moniz, President Marcelo has been visiting Cova da Moura – where Moniz was killed – and engaging with members of the dead man’s family, and the wider community.
In an outing that was not pre-released to the press, Marcelo also visited the local PSP police station, and the local fire station.
A note on the official site of the presidency has revealed that Portugal’s head of State has also been following the “positive evolution” of the state of health of Tiago, the 41-year-old Carris Metropolitana bus driver so badly injured in one of the many gang attacks that followed Odair’s fatal shooting – and is in contact with the Tiago’s mother.
The note refers to Marcelo “respecting the restrictions of hospitalisation from the very beginning”, alluding to the fact that Tiago’s recovery involved days in an induced coma, and even now cannot allow visitors unless they are on the other side of a glass screen.
The President’s announcement came only hours after a gang of 10 people with their faces obscured by ‘hoods’ launched a new wave of violence in the Moinhos da Funcheira area of Amadora, damaging nine vehicles with stones and incendiary devices.
According to reports, the attack began around 10pm on Thursday evening in Avenida da Amália Rodrigues, with the group running as they caused their damage.
Residents telephoned PSP police, which rapidly sent various agents to the area, and adjacent streets, but without success in catching, or even identifying, the perpetrators.
Police are now “maintaining reinforced patrols in various areas”. This has not deterred ‘drive by shootings’ that take place, here and there, in troubled neighbourhoods: there was one in the early hours of this morning, in Cova da Moura, as revellers were reportedly ‘celebrating a birthday party in the street’.
A shot was fired from a passing car, injuring a 38-year-old man in the thigh. The man ‘managed to make his own way to hospital’, and has since been discharged, says SIC Notícias.
