Just as new CHEGA billboards referring to immigrants receiving handouts go up in various towns, the public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the original hoardings that brought howls of indignation from various quarters.
The investigation is being conducted by the regional department of investigation and criminal action in Lisbon. But it seems unlikely that it will result in ordering CHEGA to remove the hoardings.
CHEGA leader André Ventura has already said that he would be very concerned if this happened, as first, the billboards themselves should be covered by freedom of expression, and second, the country “wants order and security”.
Presidential candidate, perhaps ‘front-runner, Luís Marques Mendes has said since the first hoardings – proclaiming: “This is not Bangladesh” and “Gypsies must comply with the law” – that any kind of legal action would be ill-advised as it would simply play straight into CHEGA’s hands.
Now that his advice has been ignored, Marques Mendes is still suggesting that this billboard campaign is not something that should be challenged through the courts. In fact, trying to do so will “only do CHEGA a favour because they will still play the victim”.
Yes, the posters are “deplorable, provocative, inhumane, racist, even xenophobic”, says the long-term public figure vying for the presidency – but “the fight against this type of action must be carried out through politics (…) freedom of expression should not be curtailed.
“Democracy is the system in which there is tolerance, even towards behaviors that are normally considered reprehensible,” he said, when quizzed over whether CHEGA should be forced to remove the hoardings.
Says Lusa, Luis Marques Mendes made it clear that, despite having “unqualifiable behaviors,” CHEGA should not be banned, especially since “there is a difference between its leadership and its voters,” the latter being “disenchanted Portuguese” whose problems must be solved.
Source material: LUSA
