Mariana Mortagua denies attack on Montenegro and says personal safety is not justified

BE coordinator Mariana Mortagua today denied an attack “that could never have happened” on the PSD leader and separated the party from these activists, but considered that personal security provided by the government was not justified at this time.

Shortly after climate activist doused Luis Montenegro with green paint, the BE leader took to social media to condemn the attack on campaign freedom and democracy.

Arriving at today’s first BE campaign rally, a late-night rally in Moscavida, Lisbon, Mariana Mortagua loudly repeated these criticisms and declared that this kind of action was “unjustifiable, unacceptable, intolerable and must be condemned.”

“What happened to Luis Montenegro today should never have happened during an election campaign, it should be condemned, it should be rejected and I hope it will not happen again,” he said.

Asked whether elements from BE were involved, the bloc leader answered in the negative and insisted that “democratic debates must take place without candidates feeling conditioned in their campaign, in their initiative in their actions.”

Regarding the personal security provided by Prime Minister António Costa to party leaders after this attack, Mariana Mortagua explained that the security assessment that the party makes at the moment “does not justify” this measure.

“We’re not talking about attacks on the personal safety of candidates, these are attacks on democracy and the way democracy works. The security assessment we make at this time does not justify these types of measures, but in no way cancels them.” the seriousness of what happened and what happened was a condition for the free holding of elections,” he explained.

As for whether this situation is uncomfortable for the party as it supports many climate movements, the BE leader made it clear that she supports “young people who are against climate change, who want to create a large social majority for climate protection.”

“Such actions are contrary to this goal, they are contrary to the goals of the climate movement and, in fact, go against the initiatives of these young people, they go against the will of creating a majority that supports climate action. and therefore they must be rejected, they must be condemned,” he argued.

According to Mortagua, such actions, “rather than helping a cause,” “do the exact opposite,” with the aggravating factor of conditioning democratic debate.

“This is not the first time this has happened; the Left Bloc has already had some of its propaganda vandalized. We do not agree that democratic debate is conditioned in this way,” he said.