Criminalize civil disobedience? Most say yes, but abusive treatment of activists also concerns Amnesty International

A The overwhelming majority of Portuguese people (82%) never felt that their rights as a protester were limited and two out of three even recognize that, in Portugal, “we can demonstrate without restrictions, compared to many other countries”. Even so, Amnesty International is concerned about some cases of limiting the right to demonstrate and the lack of knowledge on the topic.

The numbers come from an investigation in partnership with the Catholic University, which is disclosed this Monday as part of the global campaign “Protect Freedom”. Since 2023, Amnesty International has been mapping the right to demonstrate, surveying some cases that have occurred in recent years.

“We are concerned about cases of inadequate treatment of activists inside and outside the police stations”, says the investigation coordinator, Inês Subtil. This is the case of abusive searches of climate activists in whichwomen were forced to undress or, in the case of Cascais marathon, in which protesters were arrested and held without access to a lawyer because of a protest that never took place. This is also the case of the use of force against journalists in demonstrations or the agent who led to the police protest, who was identified at the scene and the action was registered on January 7th. Identifications have, in fact, been a frequent practice “in recent months”, he points out.

Amnesty International argues that police protocols must be reviewed to comply with the law and international standards, in addition to cases being investigated and findings made public. More, “There must be tolerance on the part of the State. That is, policing must tolerate peaceful protests, even if disruptive, and must protect peaceful protesters from counter-protesters. You should not disperse them, unless the disturbance is serious and lasting”, argues Inês Subtil. “What we have seen in recent months is that this tolerance is not exercised to the same degree in all protests.”

Effectively, 68% of the 1001 respondents consider the existence of hate speech, violence and discrimination in the police to be worrying. However, this perception of differentiated treatment is only shared by 37% of respondents. Another 42% disagree that it exists. “It is not because we are not aware that these things are not happening”says Inês Subtil.