Parliament summons SSI Secretary-General to explain threats from far-right armed group
The Constitutional Affairs Commission unanimously agreed to hear Patrícia Barão on UCAT and the Armed Armilar Movement, following security lapses affecting senior state figures.
Parliament summons SSI Secretary-General to explain threats from far-right armed group
Deputies from the Constitutional Affairs Commission approved on Wednesday, without any votes against, a request from the Left Bloc to hear with priority the Secretary-General of the Internal Security System. Patrícia Barão will be questioned on how the Anti-Terrorism Coordination Unit operates, in a session that will not be public.
The issue concerns the danger posed by the Armed Armilar Movement, a radical right-wing organisation that reportedly planned attacks against various public figures. According to several parliamentarians, "extremely serious security lapses" that affected Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and former Head of State Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, among others, became public.
Fabian Figueiredo, representative of the Left Bloc, explained that the group of potential targets also included members of the legislature, headquarters of left-wing political parties, and entities such as SOS Racism and the Casa do Brasil.
The parliamentarian demanded guarantees that the problems would not be repeated: "We want to know what will be done for the future. What happened cannot be repeated. We must end the backyard culture between the different entities responsible for security." Figueiredo added that the head of government and his security detail were unaware of the threats, and there was subsequently an attempt to shift responsibility between the intelligence services.
António Rodrigues, deputy head of the PSD group, and João Almeida, of the CDS-PP, endorsed the initiative. Rodrigues noted that Barão had not yet occupied the position when the investigation into the group took place, but stressed that "this matter must be clarified, within the limits of judicial secrecy".
Socialist Isabel Moreira also supported the request and recalled that the current holder of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, participated in the investigation into the radical group while heading the Judiciary Police. Moreira cited declarations by the minister about "a dangerous armed far-right whose objective is to attack the democratic rule of law".
On the Chega side, Ricardo Lopes Reis agreed with the hearing and stated that the party does not identify with "either extreme".
The session recorded a more contentious moment when Rui Rocha, former leader of the Liberal Initiative, accused Eva Cruzeiro and Isabel Moreira of sharing on social media a deceptively edited video. The material suggested that Rocha had been surprised when the minister stated that the far-right represents a greater risk than the far-left. Cruzeiro rejected accusations of disrespect and classified the video as satirical.
Source: Correio da Manhã
Source: Correio da Manhã