For second year running, only ‘authorised people’ allowed access; police barriers in force
There is something odd about commemorations for the Implantation of a Republic (a place where power is held by the people) excluding… ‘the people’. But this is what happened today in Lisbon, for the second year running.
Only authorised people were allowed access to Praça do Município where the solemn session celebrating the 114th anniversary of the Implantation of the Republic of Portugal took place.
In all the streets and roads leading to Praça do Município police barriers were in force; anyone requiring access had to show some sort of valid reason as to why they should be given it.
Unsurprisingly, the overriding theme of speeches centred on the quality of democracy. And, unsurprisingly, President Marcelo admitted it was not perfect.
“Democracy is alive”, he said – but neither “perfect nor finished”. It must be “freer, more equal, fairer and more supportive”.
“October 5 is alive”, he began his speech to the authorised, “because the Republic is alive.
“The most imperfect democracy is much better than the most tempting dictatorship”, he added. “That’s why it is worth coming here every year, even to say that we want our democratic Republic to be freer, more equal, fairer, more united, for the good of Portugal, which is what unites us now and always.”
Other speeches veered onto the subject of immigration at a point where Expresso reports that the ‘tent city’ of immigrants camped for weeks in a church garden in the capital has finally been dismantled, to see its occupants ‘re-housed in hostels’ (at the city council’s expense) indefinitely. President Marcelo persisted in his interpretation of immigration as a rich mosaic in a country that should learn to be more plural and tolerant, while Lisbon mayor Carlos Moedas defended the government’s focus that Portugal cannot have its doors wide open to a flood of economic migrants from underdeveloped countries. (Dismayed reactions to Moedas’ speech came from the all left wing parties).
One positive point to be taken from the event was the fact that all those present conceded that the solemn session was not an occasion for more discussion on the twists and turns of the state budget.
