Marcelo addresses protesters and emphasizes Portugal’s position at the UN in defense of Palestine

This Monday, the President of the Republic addressed dozens of young protesters for the Palestinian cause, emphasizing to them Portugal’s position regarding the ceasefire in Gaza and the entry of the Palestinian State as a full member of the United Nations.

This episode occurred when Marcelo Rebelo de Souza arrived in the courtyard of the University of Coimbra, where celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Luis de Camões begin, and saw dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters at the entrance to the faculty. arts

Unlike what happened a few minutes earlier with Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, the head of state went to meet them halfway.

For five minutes, he began by listening to one of the organizers of the demonstration demand immediate Portuguese diplomatic recognition of the Palestinian state and “an end to the complicity of the University of Coimbra” with the State of Israel and the “massacre” of the Palestinian people. .

After hearing this message, the President of the Republic asked the protesters to borrow a microphone and told them “two things” in less than a minute.

“Portugal voted for the first time a month and a half ago for Palestine to join as a full member of the United Nations. Before that, it only had associate member status,” he said.

Afterwards, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa emphasized that “Portugal has just signed, among other declarations, a declaration in favor of a ceasefire.”

“I have already taken a position and am now advocating that the resolution, signed by many countries from different continents, be submitted to the United Nations,” he said. One of the protesters again took up the microphone and thanked him for the attention shown to him by the President of the Republic.

In addition to the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic, the opening ceremony of the centenary of the birth of Luis de Camões was attended by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, several members of the government, including the Minister of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, the Secretary General of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos, and parliamentary leader of the SDS-PP Paulo Nuncio, who arrived a little later than the head of state visited the Joanina library.

At the entrance to the university courtyard, next to Porta Ferrea, Pedro Nuno Santos crossed paths with Paulo Rangel and made a fist gesture, alluding to the victory of the PS and the defeat of the AD (Democratic Alliance) in the European Union. elections on Sunday.

However, as for the protesters who crossed paths with the President of the Republic today, they are the students who, since May 21, have been camping next to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra (FLUC), demanding “an end to the ongoing genocide.” in occupied Palestine.”

In a press release sent to the Lusa agency at the end of May, the protesters demanded that the University of Coimbra (UC) adopt a “position of immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory” by raising the Palestinian flag in the institution’s tower and the cessation of all programs. agreements and protocols with Israeli companies, institutions and universities, “as well as the State of Israel’s refusal to provide any funding for academic programs.”

In taking this position, the Coimbra Students for Palestine movement accused the University of California of increasing the number of private security guards in the surrounding area, preventing students from accessing university premises and “intimidation and harassment” by security guards, another statement said. published in early June.