Portugal is one of the most racist countries in the EU â European Social Survey
Once again police violence against an underprivileged community has hit the headlines. This time the battlefield is called Jamaica. Not the home of Bob Marleyâs reggae but a ghettoized neighbourhood of merely black Afro-descendants in the southern outskirts of greater Lisbon.
It all started with a quarrel between two residents, but it was when the police arrived that the story exploded. Police officers using excessive violence were captured by locals on video, that quickly went viral.
The next day around 300 black youngsters held a spontaneous demonstration at the prestigious Avenida da Liberdade, chanting âStop racist police brutalityâ.
Police responded exorbitantly by firing rubber bullets and arresting four of the protesters.
Slums proliferated in Portugal from the 1970s onward due to immigration from the former Portuguese colonies of Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinee Bissau and Sao Tomé & Principe.
âIt is in the outskirts where the segregation of Portuguese speaking African immigrants began. Many of these neighbourhoods are regarded as âsensitiveâ by the security forces but that doesnât correlate with crime rates. Itâs all about racial bias within the police forceâ, explains social worker Antonio Brito Guterres in the British newspaper the Guardian. Although the state forbids to collect data on ethnicity or race, the police does make use of ethnic profiling as evidenced by confidential police reports from 2016.
This story of police brutality reminds of the well-known case from February 2015, when 17 policemen were accused of a number of crimes against a group of black young people in Lisbonâs quarter Cova da Moura. Four years later the public prosecutor has dropped the charges of racism, torture and falsifying testimonies against all police officers!
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has repeatedly declared being very concerned with racism in Portugal and the lack of measures taken for the benefit of the black immigrant population.
But with the continued perceived impunity of the police and the unwillingness to even consider the issue of institutional racism in the country, tensions between African descent communities and the security forces will remain.
Bom fim de semana            Enjoy the weekend        (pic Observador/PĂșblico)
Both left and right wing parties in Parliament are concerned about racism in the police force and violation of human rights in prisons. The reason is a recently published report of the European Committee against Torture, stating that police violence in Portugal â in particular against African descendants – is the highest in Western Europe.
The committee â that also visited the country in 2013 â emphasizes that the police violence at police stations has increased and that the situation in the overcrowded prisons of Caxias, Setubal, and Lisbon is âinhuman and degrading.â
Julia Kozma, lawyer and chairing the European delegation, points the finger towards the Ministry of Internal Affairs – responsible for the police and the security forces â and regrets its lack of âawarenessâ. The Ministry denies the accusations and declares that âall complaints about violent police conduct are investigated by the Internal General Inspectorate (IGAI) and immediately reported to the Public Prosecutor.â
The reality, however, is that only a very small number of the complaints are brought before court. âAnd thatâs exactly the problemâ, says Kozma. âThere is a spirit of impunity and bureaucracy, whereby complaining doesnât help. The inspection body (IGAI) needs more skills to conduct criminal investigations and more resources to act independently.â
In recent months the non-governmental organization SOS racism received an increasing number of grievances from inmates in the prison of Lisbon about racist provocations and intimidations. Peculiar was that all complaints came from African immigrants and that any registration on xenophobe or racist behavior from the guards and staff is lacking.