July 14 in Lisbon Criminal Court judge read out the final decision in the case against "11, of Lisbon, arrested during a police anti-authoritarian suppression of a demonstration against fascism and capitalism, April 25, 2007 With all the defendants were acquitted because the judge announced that there was no evidence their guilt.
Such a solution is to be expected: the testimony of witnesses (mainly police-riot police) were full of contradictions and sometimes seemed merely anecdotal.Already on July 5, when hearing the concluding speech of the public prosecutor and the defense, the prosecutor was forced to admit that the evidence against the accused is not enough. He began by declaring that a deed not concealed any political motives (apparently under pressure from the protests), but it is only the punishment of ordinary criminal offenses. He justified the police action as "necessary", although "power", explaining that the events acquired its own momentum, and it was difficult to navigate in what is happening.
We, of course, satisfied with the outcome, but can not condemn this court as one more demonstration of how the state "justice", which justifies the state's authority and guaranteeing the impunity of its hirelings to the end, even when they are unnecessary cruelty against the demonstrators became apparent to all.We can find clear parallels between the actions of the police in this case and many recent cases of police repression and brutality, not only during the demonstrations, but also in poor neighborhoods.They show that the "strong" hand of government is increasingly becoming a public guarantee of the functioning of socio-economic system based on inequality, oppression and exploitation.
Recall April 25, 2007 in Lisbon was anti-authoritarian demonstration against fascism and capitalism, directed against the growing influence of fascist groups in Portugal and attempts to rehabilitate the figure of the former dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.Then came a few books about Salazar, and in Santa Comba Dao, the place where he was born dictator, was to open a museum. TV contest that seeks to raise the level of nationalist and chauvinist attitudes among the Portuguese people, eventually managed to elect Salazar "the greatest Portuguese of all time. In addition, PNR, the far-related groups-Nazi skinheads began to show signs of great activity, opening a large-scale campaign of xenophobia and organized several street demonstrations, one of which, as a provocation, took place in the famous immigrant neighborhood in the heart of Lisbon.
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In response to the growth of reactionary forces and moods in Portuguese society, anarchists organized a large demonstration on the day of the "Revolution", April 25, when he was overthrown by a fascist dictatorship (1974).The demonstration brought together more than 500 people, crossed the center of Lisbon, are constantly under the scrutiny of the police and ended in Largo de Camões, where most people began to disperse. Thus began the second demonstration, and when the demonstrators marched on the street do Carmo (Rua do Carmo), riot police blocked all exits from the street, and then began to catch and attack the demonstrators. Several people were injured, some of them seriously, and 11 demonstrators were arrested and brought to trial on charges of disobedience, verbal abuse and assault on police officers.
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