SDP accuses Chega of “party game with police”

The SDP accused Chega of wanting to “play party politics with the police”, believing that security forces agents are the heroes of the whole country, not just of André Ventura’s party.

At the end of this Thursday’s debate in Parliament, noted by Chega, on “the security forces and their careers, racism and persecution by the political authorities in Portugal”, the speech of the MP André Coelho Lima ended with universal applause. , with the exception of Chega, the PS deputies, together with the PSD bench, give a standing ovation.

Coelho Lima quoted André Ventura as saying that “referencing police agents to the ideals of Chega’s party led to their persecution”, given that the Social Democrat is not talking about ideals but about crimes, citing an investigation by a consortium of journalists into alleged racist messages and hate speech by PSP and NPR members on social media.

“You want to play party politics with the police,” denounced an SDP MP who earlier accused Chega’s bench of trying to turn the plenum “into a tavern” because of his noisy speeches that “disturb those who speak here.” .

Agreeing with Chega, “when he said that agents of law enforcement agencies and services” are heroes, Coelho Lima countered that “they are not only Chega’s heroes.”

“They are the heroes of the IL, they are the heroes of the SDP, they are the heroes of the PS, Livre, PAN, PKP and BE. These are the heroes of the country. We are not divided, we must help them,” he stressed.

At the end of the first intervention in this debate, Chegi’s leader called for “the law and the Constitution” to recognize the agents of the security forces “as they are, the true heroes of this country.”

“These are the heroes that we in Cheg are very proud of and represent, let the media and PS say what they want. These are our heroes, we will fight for them and we will continue to fight for them until the end,” he added.

PSD’s first response was to Ventura: “The day BE, PCP, and Livre applauded me about the police, I packed up my shirt, left, and disappeared.”

At the end of the debate, in voting on various initiatives, only two IL draft resolutions were approved, while Chega’s five bills were rejected, leaving the party marginalized with positive votes on most initiatives.

The Liberals recommend that the government “promote the reform of the security forces and services, which will improve the distribution of available resources, allow for increased patrolling and police proximity, and guarantee the future sustainability of the security forces, namely, a balanced and reasonable reduction in the number of police stations, the protection of the necessary exemptions due to increased danger in certain territories, as well as the allocation of agents for security functions.

Liberals also saw approval of yet another draft regulation, which asks the executive branch to include in the National Security Annual Report “data on attacks against members of the security forces in the performance of their duties,” among other information.

Chega wanted to “criminalize incitement to hatred against members of the criminal police and the judiciary” and that “serious threat or insult to the physical integrity of an employee or member of the armed forces, paramilitary forces or security forces” be considered summary proceedings.

In another bill, Chega proposed amending the Organic Law on Political Parties to remove the reference that service agents or security forces on active duty cannot be registered with or affiliated with political parties.

Chega also saw the rejection of an initiative that proposed to increase the fixed part of the GNR and PSP risk subsidy to 450 euros, as well as another part for the use of “body cameras” by the police.