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The bill, to which the Lusa agency had access and which André Ventura intends to hand over to parliament on Monday, aims to discourage the “capture of images or videos of police and security forces in the exercise of functions, including in the framework of the use of legitimate force ”.
“It is very rare for police officers to commit crimes. Very often crimes are committed against police officers. We must protect the role of the police, especially in the context of operations with minority groups, where the issue of racism and xenophobia arises. It is a novelty in the Portuguese Penal Code, an innovation that will help maintain order and fight violence in the streets ”, defended the only deputy of the far-right parliamentary party, in statements to Lusa.
According to the proposal, “whoever captures images or videos of the actions of police forces or security agents and disseminates them in public space is punished with a penalty of one to three years in prison” and, “if the dissemination has the notorious purpose of encouraging faced with hatred against the police forces or security agents, the agent is punished with a prison sentence of two to five years ”.
The bill also establishes that “the dissemination of images or videos related to police action, when operations involving actions against members of ethnic or racial minority groups are at stake, with the aim of promoting hatred against the police forces, agents security or against a majority racial group, is punished with a prison sentence of three to five years in prison ”.
“I think there will be no questions of this nature,” Ventura responded when asked about the constitutionality of references to “minority ethnic or racial groups” or “majority racial group.”
The Chega leader said it was a legal piece “inspired by the recent French legislation on this issue.”
On Saturday in Paris, Lille, Rennes, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Nantes and Bordeaux, thousands of French citizens marched in the streets against the approval of the aforementioned legislation, with clashes between protesters and police forces in the French capital.
André Ventura justified his initiative “because most of the time those who capture the images of the police action – and then put them on social networks or on disinformation websites – are individuals or organized groups of criminals and social troublemakers.”
“It is imperative to promote, from now on, the protection of the police forces and the integrity of the functions of the State, without prejudice to the exercise of the constitutional rights of freedom of expression and information”, it is noted in the preamble of the bill .
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