SOS Racismo denounces attacks by racist militia and calls for demonstration in Porto | Racism

SOS Racismo condemned the racist aggression in the early hours of Saturday in Porto and calls for a demonstration of solidarity at 10pm in Praça 24 de Agosto as a “gesture of solidarity with immigrants, especially those who have been the target of recent violent attacks”. It also calls on the President of the Republic and all politicians to “unequivocally condemn all this violence and to take the necessary measures for democratic institutions to function, and, in particular, for the Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination to function” .

According to SOS Racismo, in recent days, “an organized group of people formed a militia to invade homes and attack immigrants in the city of Porto”, using sticks, sticks and knives.

“This group beat several immigrant people inside their homes. The attacks were planned and properly organized to spread terror and attack as many immigrants as possible. The homes were destroyed and several people had to receive hospital treatment”, reports the SOS in a statement.

“SOS Racismo condemns this wave of extreme racist violence, which has been intensifying in recent times” and is “in solidarity with all victims of racism and xenophobia.” “We stand alongside immigrant and racialized people, always and at any time. And we will do everything to protect them and so that the perpetrators of criminal, racist and xenophobic acts are taken to court and judged for the crimes committed”, it reads.

The organization warns that “there are many, too many cases of racist and xenophobic violence – and they do not happen in a vacuum”. “These groups act in concert, because they feel legitimized by the hate speech of the extreme right and by populist and racist narratives and speeches by senior political leaders, who have been making false associations between crime and immigration, providing the fuel necessary to fuel violence against immigrants and legitimize racist and xenophobic militias”, he highlights, also criticizing the “passivity of the State in combating racism and xenophobia”, namely, the fact that the Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination is without operating since October 2023.

“What happened in Porto in the last few days was a hunt for men, women and children. We witnessed militia practices motivated by racial and xenophobic hatred, typical of far-right murderous groups. We cannot go back here – ever again!”, insists SOS Racismo, which ends with an appeal for everyone to “stop and think about the moment we find ourselves in”.

O Newspaper advanced this Saturday that a group of hooded men, armed with bats, knives and a firearm, invaded on Friday a house where immigrants live, in Porto, to “beat them, destroy the contents of the house and hurl racist insults”. And he adds that in the early hours of yesterday, three attacks were recorded on citizens of Maghrebi origin in the city center.

SOS Racismo remembers other cases of recent attacks on immigrants, such as “the murder of Gurpreet Singh, an Indian, shot dead in his home, in Setúbal, by a racist militia; the group of young people in Olhão who attacked Indian and Nepalese immigrants; the GNR guards who were convicted by the Court of Beja for serious physical harm and aggravated kidnapping of immigrants in Odemira; the numerous victims of exploitation on agricultural properties in Alentejo; in Vila Nova de Gaia and Porto; or the death of Ademir Araújo Moreno, a Cape Verdean, following a racist and xenophobic attack, on the island of Faial.”