Socialist MEP Francisco Assis criticized, on Saturday, the Socialist Party (PS) candidate for the Porto City Council and former Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, for the statement issued following the assault by the PSD’s candidate for the city council, Vasco Ribeiro, on independent candidate (and current vice-president) Filipe Araújo.
In a social media opinion piece, the socialist stated that “councilor Filipe Araújo and Vasco Ribeiro were involved in a regrettable and inappropriate altercation unworthy of two educated individuals”, but considered that “they are both certainly regretful of their actions” and that “an unfortunate moment does not justify hasty judgment of people’s character.”
Assis noted that Manuel Pizarro “has known Vasco Ribeiro for many years and knows that he is a man of character, incapable of promoting any kind of hate speech (as it is now said), unconnected to the practice of violence” and “possessed of a natural predisposition for respect for others.”
“The PS candidate may be hurt for not having Vasco Ribeiro’s electoral support given their close relationship. The PS candidate should not issue a statement aiming to assassinate the character of a dignified man out of pure revenge and electoral opportunism. Or rather, he can, and he did so. He should not have done it. He degraded himself and dragged the PS with him”, denounced the MEP in the post.
In the note, Francisco Assis also made a point of “making clear that there is a part of the PS, no matter how small it may be, that considers the stance of the PS candidate for the Porto City Council to be despicable.”
The incident in question involves an assault that occurred on Thursday night at the Primavera Sound festival in Porto. The vice-president of the Porto city council reported that the assault took place when Vasco Ribeiro approached Filipe Araújo and initiated a “conversation.” Then, “suddenly and violently, he grabbed the candidate and punched him in the face, followed by throwing a glass.”
In a statement, Vasco Ribeiro, who resigned following the incident, admitted that he had a “heated discussion” with Filipe Araújo, but “it had nothing to do with the candidacy.”
“I categorically deny and repudiate the accusation made against me of a gratuitous assault on Eng. Filipe Araújo. What happened the previous night, of which I am not proud, was a heated discussion about an old issue related to my departure from the Porto City Council, which degenerated into insults and shoves from both sides. Although this episode has nothing to do with the candidacy of Eng. Filipe Araújo and Dr. Pedro Duarte, I decided, out of a sense of responsibility, to resign from the campaign leadership”, he wrote.
Vasco Ribeiro, communication director for Pedro Duarte’s campaign for the Porto City Council, resigned after a “regrettable assault” on candidate and vice-president of the city council, Filipe Araújo. However, he claims it was a “heated discussion.” The former minister and even adversaries have condemned the incident.
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Following the incident’s disclosure, former minister Manuel Pizarro took to social media to “absolutely condemn the cowardly assault on the deputy mayor and candidate for upcoming elections Filipe Araújo, during the Primavera Sound Festival, by a prominent leader of the PSD candidacy.”
“I have already had the opportunity to express my solidarity and cannot refrain from publicly condemning the incident vehemently,” reads the socialist’s post. Manuel Pizarro emphasized his “total repudiation of violence,” considering it “even more incomprehensible and reprehensible in a political context.”
To the newspaper Observador, a source from Manuel Pizarro’s candidacy stated that “it is unclear this statement by Francisco Assis, who appears to be whitewashing the behavior of a direct collaborator of his for many years.”
“Moreover, the person involved in the assault episode made a different judgment and decided to resign from PSD’s campaign while the PSD candidate, although delayed, but acknowledging the act as indefensible, chose to accept that resignation,” it added.
