Home Secretary to be heard on AR about alleged racist messages from police

Interior Minister José Luis Carneiro will be heard in Parliament on allegations of racist messages and hate speech by PSP and GNR elements on social media.

Requests for a hearing by José Luis Carneiro submitted by Block de Esquerda, PCP, Livre and PAN were unanimously approved this Wednesday by the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees.

The requests for hearings came after a Portuguese consortium of investigative journalists, which includes journalists, lawyers and academics, reported that nearly 600 PSP and GNR members, most of whom are active, allegedly use social media to break the law by writing racist and hate messages.

According to a journalistic investigation, more than three thousand publications by NPR fighters and PSP agents in recent years indicate that social networks are used for what is prohibited by the Law and internal rules.

Following the publication of the journalistic material, the Government announced that the General Inspectorate of Internal Affairs (IGAI) would launch an investigation into the case. The Prosecutor General’s Office also announced that it had begun checking on these publications.

Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees also unanimously approved the hearings of Inspector General of the Interior Anabela Rodriguez, General Commander of the NTC José Santos Correia and National Director of the PSP Manuel. Magina da Silva, who will be heard on the same topic.

Hearings at IGAI were requested by PCP, Livre and PAN, and requests for hearings from the GNR commander and PSP director were submitted by Livre and PAN.

PAN and Livre also demanded hearings from representatives of the PSP and GNR trade unions and the civic associations, but were approved to provide written clarifications to MPs in voting against Chega and PCP and abstaining from the Liberal Initiative.