PORTUGAL—Thursday, February 5, 2015—In Cova da Moura, one of the many ghettos in Portugal, six black youths were victims of police brutality. Some of them are members and volunteers of black organizations who are active in the community.
It’s not the first time that the Portuguese police have terrorized black communities in Portugal.
There is a vast list of youths and teenagers who died at the hands of the police in the last couple of years, teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17.
Among these six victims who suffered police terror last week, one is 29-year-old Jailza Souza a young mother. Her son watched on in horror as the police attacked her with rubber bullets as she attempted to stop the police from harassing 24-year-old Bruno Lopes outside of her apartment. Bruno was taken into custody for resisting arrest and was later beaten with batons.
When friends and comrades of the victims went to the local police station to demand answers and an end to the ongoing police violence in their communities, the police continued their aggression by accusing the Africans of invading Portugal.
The reality is that Portugal knows all about invasion. They initiated the attack on Africa and had one of the largest colonies in the “New World” – Brazil – a country that has the largest population of Africans outside of Africa.
Do you remember the lasts words of Eric Garner? “I can’t breathe … I can’t breathe.”
The truth is that they don’t want us to breathe!!!!
We cannot ignore what happens to our sisters and brothers in Cova da Moura. The six victims will not forget the verbal offense spat out by the Portuguese pigs committee:
“If I could I will exterminate all of you…”
“Monkeys…Negroes”
“You should be a candidate for the ISLAMIC STATE…”
“The shit have to keep being on the floor…”
And more
Rui Moniz is another one of the victims. His interaction with the police resulted in Rui’s hand being paralyzed.
Although all of these victims are still alive, they live with the ongoing reality of colonial occupation inside the colonizer’s country, which has huge consequences on their lives!
From Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown in the U.S. to Musso, Kuko, Téti, Ruben to the people who lived in the ghettos of Santa Filomena – a ghetto that was demolished by the parasitic Portuguese system – who left people without a place to live; to the oppressed and colonized African population worldwide, black people everywhere are facing terror from the imperialists, which means we must work overtime in our efforts to consolidate the African nation.
For the six survivors of the police invasion: Jailza Souza, Bruno Lopes, Celso Lopes, Flávio Almada and Rui Moniz, we are watching. African people are catching hell everywhere and we appreciate your work for the black community!
Touch One, Touch All!
