Police action? PSP Director takes responsibility (and MAI does not comment)

O national director of the Public Security Police (PSP), Pedro Moura, took responsibility for police intervention in the campsites of Porto and Lisbon, which took place early Saturday to Sunday. 

“Of course, of course I do”. It was in this way that the national director of PSP, Pedro Moura, answered the journalists when asked if he had followed the police operations carried out in Lisbon and Porto following the demonstrations for housing.

Already asked if it was your decision, the national director said: “Yes, the National Director”. 

Pedro Moura, remember, took office as National Director of PSP about two weeks ago, having replaced Luís Carrilho, who has been in office since May 2024.

Also the Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, was confronted with the subject after, on Sunday, he defended the intervention of PSP. This time, the ruler opted for silence, refusing to comment. 

Remember that, on Sunday, Luís Neves stressed that police interventions in Lisbon and Porto were PSP decisions, stressing that whenever there is a violation of the law, it is “desirable that everything should be done” to restore public order.

“ No security force needs directions to comply with the law. Each security force has its technical, tactical and operational autonomy. Of course, we are talking about law enforcement, never in history did it take a force to need any indication to enforce it”, said the ruler.

Asked whether the police action was disproportionate, the Minister of Internal Administration refuted and spoke in “physical strength”.

“ I followed the [police] action. I have seen only once in the face of a manifest opposition to which a staff has been used. What I saw and I think we all saw was physical force to enforce the law and the rule of law”, answered the ruler. 

Subsequently, in an explanation sent to the essays, the Ministry of Internal Administration explained that the minister’s reference “to the use of ‘a stick’ in the PSP operation in Rossio did not intend to enumerate exhaustively the amount used”.

“ But only, as it is, witnessed by the numerous images published, which were used sticks only in a specific situation in Rossio. He intended this, to contradict the thesis that the police had dispersed the protesters ‘at batonada’, as has been wrongly repeated”, says the ministry.

For the Minister of Internal Administration the PSP’s work was “truely legitimized”.