Jurist calls for aggravated punishment of immigrant attackers in Porto – Politics

This Tuesday, jurist Ana Rita Gil called for an aggravated punishment for the perpetrators of the attacks on immigrants in Porto, criticizing the link made by the Attorney General of the Republic between immigration and crime.

“It is necessary, indeed, to punish these actions, and to punish the aggravations linked to xenophobic hatred, if that was indeed the case”, the professor at Lisbon Public Law (Center for Research in Public Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Lisbon) and specialist in migration.

According to the researcher, “it is different to punish just behavior and punish behavior especially carried out with a reprehensible intention”, because “this is the only way to send the message that they are not tolerated in a democratic society that does not adhere to these values”.

For the lawyer, “the problem was also avoiding talking about immigration in the country for so long, imposing a single discourse”, because “integration also depends on the host society, preparing it”.

Today, in Portugal, “it is no longer necessary to be ashamed, now one can speak and be xenophobic publicly, which means the normalization” of speech is taking place.

Ana Rita Gil criticized the statements made by the Attorney General of the Republic who, on Monday, admitted a “greater apprehension” regarding “the growing entry into national territory of young people unaccompanied by their families”, who are “uprooted, undocumented, of different origins and provenances”.

“I see the normalization, at the highest level, of simplistic speeches that make a dangerous link between immigration and crime,” said the researcher, classifying Lucília Gago’s statement as “particularly serious coming from the highest authority responsible for the judiciary responsible for investigating crimes in Portugal”.

In the early hours of Friday, there were three attacks and assaults on immigrants in the Campo 24 de Agosto area, on Rua do Bonfim and Rua Fernandes Tomás, in Porto.

The researcher considers that these crimes “may have, as an encouraging cause, the increase in far-right speech in Portugal.

In his opinion, “the debate on immigration was never made by moderate people, and, once again, what took over this was extremist populism, which always contains a message of surreptitious violence”, so what, ” Before it was hidden in people’s primary suspicions, it is now coming to the surface because these fears are beginning to be validated in the public space”.

In response to Lusa, the office of the Deputy Secretary of State of the Presidency stated that the Government is preparing a reform in the sector.

“After meeting with some entities, the Minister of the Presidency will present to the Council of Ministers an action plan for migration, which resolves the heavy legacy of ‘past political ineptitude’ and ensures a system that combines effective control with dignified and humanistic integration “, said the guardianship, confirming that these “meetings have been held”.

According to the PSP, the attacks were carried out by several groups, with five immigrants being taken to the hospital due to their injuries.

Following the attacks, six men were identified and one was arrested for illegal possession of a weapon.

Given the suspicion of the existence of a hate crime, the case began to be investigated by the Judiciary Police.