The bill, which the Lusa agency had access to and which André Ventura intends to deliver to parliament by Monday, aims to discourage the “capture of images or video of police officers and security forces in the exercise of functions, even in the framework for the use of legitimate force ”.
“It is very rare for police officers to commit crimes. There are very often crimes against policemen. We must protect the role of the police, especially in the context of operations with minority groups, where the issue of racism and xenophobia comes up. It is a novelty in the Portuguese Penal Code, an innovation that will help to maintain order and fight against violence on the streets ”, defended the only deputy of the extreme right-wing parliamentary party, speaking to Lusa.
According to the proposal, “whoever captures images or videos of the performance of police forces or security agents and disseminates them in the public space is punished with a penalty of one to three years in prison” and, “if the dissemination is notoriously intended to encourage to hatred against police forces or security agents, the agent is punished with a prison sentence of two to five years ”.
The bill also provides that “the dissemination of images or videos relating to police action, when operations involving actions against members of minority ethnic or racial groups are at stake, with the aim of encouraging hatred against 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 answered 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 matter”.
Saturday in Paris, Lille, Rennes, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Nantes and Bordeaux thousands of French citizens marched on the streets against the approval of the referred legislation, with clashes between protesters and police forces in the Gallic capital.
André Ventura justified his initiative “because most of the time those who capture the images of police action – and later put them on social networks or on websites of disinformation – 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 constitutional rights of freedom of expression and information”, is noted in the preamble to the bill.
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