Demands for racism to be criminalised

While the Left Bloc is one of the smaller parties with a presence in Parliament, its proposal for the majority coalition government to criminalise racism could be one of the lasting legacies of its current legislative mandate. The proposal to declare racism a crime comes after a month of protests which followed claims of police brutality in the Cova da Moura neighbourhood whose inhabitants are mostly black. An independent organisation with consultancy powers at the UN has also since alleged that 40 youths died between 2000 and 2010 during police action.

“We are seeking a revision of the

Penal Code in order to make room

for racism to be criminalised, a

feature which the Code currently does not possess”, Left Bloc MP Cecília Honório said this week.

The demand came after a public hearing in Parliament’s Senate Hall concerning allegations of a spike in police brutality and other forms of institutionalised racism.

The public debate, staged on Tuesday evening, attracted around 60 interested parties, including community leaders from a number of Lisbon’s council estates, and focussed heavily on proposals aimed at police action in these neighbourhoods.

“This was a debate centred on police violence, on racism and the need to continue to bring to light other forms of discrimination which these people in these fringe neighbourhoods experience.

“We have heard witnesses with intense testimonies that this sort of violence forms part of the daily existence of these people”, the Left Bloc MP was quoted as telling Lusa News Agency after the meeting.

In a subsequent statement issued on Wednesday by the Left Bloc, the party said it was commonplace “to hear in these neighbourhoods that blacks are to be eliminated.”

According to the Left Bloc, these reports are “absolutely deafening” and are calling for a “profound debate on the multiple forms of racism Portuguese society continues to endure.”

