The Lisbon PSD council condemned this Thursday “racism, xenophobia and all forms of exclusion” that exist in Portuguese society. Contrary to what has been defended by the direction of Rui Rio, the president of the PSD / Lisbon council, Luís Newton, considers that there is racism (and xenophobia) in Portugal and that these problems are “unfortunately on the way to normalization”.
“I condemn racism, xenophobia and all forms of exclusion in all its aspects. We cannot allow hate speech and demonstrations to spread in our country like the ones we saw on Saturday in Lisbon, at the door of SOS Racismo ”, defends the president of the PSD / Lisbon council, after it was reported that the Judicial Police (PJ) is investigating the threats directed at three deputies and at SOS Racism.
The threats were sent by email to the two deputies of the Bloco de Esquerda (BE) Beatriz Gomes Dias and Mariana Mortágua and to the non-registered deputy Joacine Katar Moreira. In the email sent by the so-called “New Order of Avis – National Resistance”, the sender urges the deputies to abandon their political functions and leave the country within 48 hours, under penalty of taking measures “against these leaders and their families” .
As far as is known, the email will also have been sent to Mamadou Ba, leader of the SOS Racismo association, and to six more members of the association.
He never mentioned the name of Rui Rio, who in an interview with TVI in early June came to say that in Portugal “there is no racism” and who never noticed that this is a problem for Portuguese society, Luís Newton says that acts of racism and xenophobia “are intolerable against anyone who is committed” and that “they are unfortunately on the way to normalization”. “We cannot allow it”, he stresses.
“As in Lisbon and in the country, I criticized the terrible decision of the PS to include extremist parties in a Government solution, so now I have to be clear to say that the party founded by Sá Carneiro can never at any time even feed the idea of normalizing these speeches ”, shoots Luís Newton, stressing that“ in moments like these, politicians cannot allow uncertainty ”.
The leader of the PSD / Lisbon council and leader of the PSD bench in the Lisbon Municipal Assembly also criticizes the Rui Rio’s opening to an understanding with the arrival of André Ventura if the party “moderates” the political discourse and stresses that it is not possible to “build democracy with those who do not believe in it”.
“The PSD is a party that has always had non-negotiable values as respect for Democracy, difference, plurality and human dignity. You will never be able to accept or agree with political proposals that jeopardize these values. If I find it unacceptable for the PS to be held hostage by the extreme left, I also cannot accept that the PSD is held hostage by the extreme right ”, he stresses.
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