Security warning comes as ‘thousands of people’ from the Middle East register for WYD

The Chegi leader said this Saturday that he would seek clarification from the Interior Ministry regarding the risks involved in registering “tens of thousands of people” from the Middle East for World Youth Day (WYD).

“This, if true, means that we are facing a very serious security threat and are facing the possibility or attempt to infiltrate Portugal during World Youth Day, not only by radical groups, but also by people who may have ill intentions,” he said. Andre Ventura.

The President of Chega spoke on the sidelines of a visit to the Casa de Saúde de São João de Deus in Funchal, a reference institution for psychiatry, mental health, drug treatment and psychosocial rehabilitation in the autonomous region. Madeira.

Andre Ventura stated that the party has information “not confirmed but from credible and credible sources” that thousands of people from the Middle East, especially from Pakistan, are enrolled in the WYD, and now intends to seek clarification from the Ministry of Internal Administration, Police Public Security, Judicial Police and the Aliens and Border Guards Service.

“We do not want and do not aim, obviously, to create any factor of anxiety or fear, [queremos] just need to know if this is true and if it is confirmed that tens of thousands of people are trying to register from these regions of the world, especially from areas in conflict and areas with a high prevalence of the phenomenon of radicalization. “, He said.

World Youth Day, the largest event of the Catholic Church, is taking place for the first time in Portugal from 1 to 6 August in Lisbon, where about 1.5 million people are expected.

In the same statements, the Chega leader said he would like to know what is being done in terms of “treatment, monitoring and prevention” and whether the Portuguese authorities are doing “everything possible” to ensure “no unpleasant surprises”.

Andre Ventura recalled that there had previously been “preliminary information and reports” indicating that there might be movements that could compromise the security of the WYD, but reiterated that his party “does not intend to create either social anxiety or a sense of insecurity.”

Chega’s goal, he says, is to listen to the authorities to see if the phenomenon is being treated with “due care” given that World Youth Day “could be a gateway for criminal phenomena” linked to terrorism, trafficking people and organized international crime.