More than 10,000 public security police officers will be mobilized to provide security and policing during World Youth Day (WYD), which takes place in Lisbon in the first week of August, the national director of the PSP announced on Monday.
The figures were announced by Manuel Magina da Silva during a visit to the World Youth Day Local Organizing Committee (COL) Headquarters in Beato, Lisbon.
According to the National Director of the PSP, these 10,000 police officers include approximately 7,000 members of the PSP Lisbon Metropolitan Command (Cometlis) and 2,800 police officers from other teams in the country to reinforce the Cometlis during WYD. have not yet calculated the strength of the special police unit.
Considered the biggest event of the Catholic Church, WYD will take place from 1 to 6 August in Lisbon and is expected to be attended by about 1.5 million people.
Magina da Silva stated that the goal is “to ensure that the Commander of Cometlis is at maximum combat readiness and with all the resources he needs”.
“Therefore, I had to take an unpopular measure among the police, which consisted in suspending vacations from July 26 to August 7,” the national director told reporters, adding that “in addition to the entire Kometlis staff, they will strengthen the Lisbon command of 2,800 police officers.”
Magina da Silva also stated that the PSP had already met with the Spanish police about the day the neighboring country organized in Madrid in 2011 to see “lessons learned and where problems can be avoided”, but international coordination between the police would be guaranteed by the secretary general of the system of internal the security of Paulo Viseu Pinheiro.
“During this period, we will have several police officers from different countries, including the Interpol and Europol component, who will be here to provide all the necessary support in terms of information and risk assessment,” he added.
Magina da Silva explained that the Secretary General of the Internal Security System is responsible for the control and coordination of all organizations involved in the security and protection of WYD.
WYD was born at the initiative of Pope John Paul II after the success of the meeting organized in 1985 in Rome as part of the International Year of Youth.
This year the event will be attended by Pope Francis, who will be in Portugal from 2 to 6 August.
The WYD in Lisbon was originally scheduled for 2022 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.