The Lisbon City Council (CML) inaugurated, this Wednesday, April 3rd, a plaque in honor of the four people murdered on April 25th, 1974, next to the headquarters of PIDE (International and State Defense Police), on Rua António Maria Cardoso, in Chiado. This plaque replaces the one that existed until then, but which did not contain correct data relating to the four citizens, and has a QR Code, where it is possible to find out the biographies of each of them.
The former PIDE headquarters, on Rua António Maria Cardoso, in Chiado, now has a new plaque in honor of the four people murdered on April 25, 1974. This ceremony is part of the Municipal Celebrations of the 50th anniversary of April 25th and aims to remember this episode. The placement of this new plaque came from the initiative of several citizens, one of them Pedro Vieira, who after reading about this event in a newspaper in 2017, came forward with a petition, which collected around 400 signatures, with the aim of honoring these four citizens with the allocation of a street to each one.
The petition was taken to the Lisbon Municipal Assembly (AML) in 2018, and was approved unanimously. “There is little about this episode and, thanks to social media, I thought about launching a petition”, the person responsible for the document told Olhares de Lisboa, which after approval by the AML, was sent to the Toponymy Commission, which rejected the idea, a since “there was already enough toponymy on the 25th of April”. “I left the matter dormant, but then I had a click and I thought about doing this again”, added Pedro Vieira, explaining that he launched a new petition, which this time collected 1,100 signatures.
Plaque has a QR Code that links to each citizen’s biography
“I returned to the AML again, there was a unanimous vote again, and the matter was referred to the Culture council”, he recalled, remembering that this happened in 2021, when the current council executive had already taken office. “There were clues that the council would align and it turned out that there was a wrong sign”, said Pedro Vieira, adding that the new sign maintained the original text of the first, but now has a QR Code that takes the user to the website of the Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade, where it is possible to discover the biographies of these four citizens.
In his inauguration speech, Pedro Vieira also said that “one thing that always worried me was the fact that these names were incorrect and these people were not remembered”. Therefore, “I wanted to restore the truth and appeal to the CML to correct this detail”, he recalled, highlighting that “it is with great joy that I see this plaque corrected. The battle for memory never ends. There are several narratives about April 25th and this one was incorrect.” In addition to Pedro Vieira, there was also another question related to the topic, this time by the civic movement Não Apaguem a Memória (NAM), which promotes initiatives to evoke historical events and their memories.
Perpetuate the memory
The movement has no party links and lives off membership fees and donations from the community. The president of this association, Eurico Reis, was present at this ceremony. “We must investigate what happened in the past, with all rigor and with greater impartiality”, he considered. “We have to investigate the truth and show the truth, so that this truth is known, recognized and disseminated”, he continued, remembering that it is “fundamental to preserve the memory”. “Memory has two importance”, said Eurico Reis. In other words, the first is to “remember and show what happened”, and the second “to prevent us from making the mistakes that were made, either by ourselves, or by previous generations”, he stated.
In this specific case, “PIDE murdered people who were peacefully here demonstrating against them. There were four deaths, but there were injuries. What those murderous scoundrels did was prepare blasts at people, showing what they were: murderers”, continued Eurico Reis, highlighting that this plaque should serve to “remember what the PIDE was and showed on the first day of freedom” . “Memory must also guide us to what is happening today, to what is happening, to the duplications. The FP-25s were tried and condemned. The MDLP was never tried,” he added.
Tell facts
For the leader of the movement, it is this “duplicity that kills democracy”, as “these murderers, that day, killed four people and injured others. Let’s preserve the memory, so that what happened is known, but also to help us fight for democracy and the rule of law”, concluded Eurico Reis. This plaque now contains the names of Fernando dos Reis, Fernando Giesteira, João Arruda and José Barneto, the four citizens killed while participating in the demonstration for the extinction of PIDE/DGS on April 25, 1974. At the inauguration ceremony of this plaque, There was also the Municipal Director of Culture, Laurentina Pereira, representatives of all parties elected in the Lisbon City Council, and also councilors Filipa Roseta, Diogo Moura and Filipe Anacoreta Correia.
The latter began his intervention by reminding us that “memory is made up of facts. The 25th of April is often referred to as a revolution that had few deaths, associated with the symbolism of flowers and peaceful symbolism”, but the truth is that there are “facts and there was a circumstance here in which” four people died. “It particularly impresses me to know that there was a young man of just 17 years old” who was killed in this event, continued Anacoreta Correia, highlighting the importance of building memory “without narratives”.
“It’s the most difficult aspect. We, for example, at CML, have insisted that there also be the affirmation of November 25th, where, effectively, there were two fateful lives. The narratives sometimes lead us to emphasize some facts more than others and we cannot help but see the entire process that was decisive for the interruption from one regime to another”, added the vice-president of the Lisbon municipality.
CML remembers historic places of the revolution with the ‘April Places’ project
“It is worth highlighting the commitment of the city and all the people involved in laying this new slab”, acknowledged the mayor. In turn, the councilor responsible for Culture at CML, Diogo Moura, added that “the memory cannot be forgotten in any way”, also taking the opportunity to thank the entire team from the Municipal Directorate of Culture and the Department of Cultural Heritage . “This is a matter that does not happen now”, recalled the councilor, remembering that this plaque is the result of several requests from citizens to “remember and correct what was an error in the names of these four citizens”.
“I also accompanied Pedro in the various presentations he gave”, recalled Diogo Moura, highlighting that, in addition to this initiative, the CML continues to remember the revolution and its events through the ‘Lugares de Abril’ project, with evocative plaques at various points of the city. “Often we don’t know what the truth of events is. This is what technologies also help us to bring”, through the QR Code present on all these signs.
“Everything that was said, history, memory, it cannot be lost, it must be remembered every day, especially because the challenges of democracy continue to exist, and are always in front of us”, concluded Diogo Moura, thanking all the citizens who contributed to the correction of this evocative plaque next to the former PIDE headquarters.
