An hour before the plane that carried them from Madrid arrived, around thirty activists gathered. By 10:32 PM, when the aircraft landed, more than a thousand people filled the arrivals area, a police source estimated. Authorities formed a security perimeter to facilitate the exit of Mariana Mortágua, Sofia Aparício, Miguel Duarte, and Diogo Chaves from the airport atrium.
Amid chants of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian slogans, and criticisms of the Portuguese government, the four activists were escorted by the police through the crowd out of the airport atrium.
Once the police dispersed and left the activists in an area outside the atrium, journalists seized the moment to hear from the Portuguese participants of the Global Flotilla Sumud. Exhausted, the activists recounted their experiences while detained in Israel.
Shouts of “Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people, Israel is a murderous state,” “Free Palestine,” and accusations against the Portuguese Foreign Minister, “Paulo Rangel is Israel’s puppet,” marked the scene. The first words from the Left Bloc (BE) coordinator, Mariana Mortágua, managed to quiet the crowd.
Mariana Mortágua described the challenging circumstances during her detention in Israel but noted that Palestinian detainees likely faced even harsher conditions.
“[We understood the difference in that prison] between being Europeans and Palestinians, and although it was hard for us, and it was, and despite witnessing abuses, which were many, it gave us an insight into the level of impunity of Israeli forces against Palestinians,” she stated upon arrival in Lisbon.
Activist Miguel Duarte also commented that prisoners in Israeli jails have no rights and that if the detained Portuguese activists aboard the flotilla received any protection, it was due to their European citizenship and worldwide support for the flotilla.
Miguel Duarte also mentioned “comrades being beaten,” detainees going 24 to 48 hours without food or water—some with chronic conditions such as diabetes and without medication—and others placed “in cages under the sun.”
He further explained how they were given documents and pressured to sign, later realizing the documents stated that they accepted Israel had legally captured them and brought them to Israel.
“We refused to sign, and Israeli soldiers used our passports to forge our signatures to show we accepted we were intercepted legally. Let’s be clear; we were illegally intercepted and taken against our will to Israel,” he said.
Mariana Mortágua also mentioned that while detained, they were unaware of the events unfolding and speculated among themselves about the level of mobilization in Portugal and other countries regarding Israel’s illegal actions.
Actress Sofia Aparício complained of mistreatment during detention, stating that she was handcuffed like the others. Diogo Chaves remarked that it was “very hard to leave the Israeli prison and leave comrades behind.”
“But we also knew we had to return home sooner to fight for those who stayed behind and for the Palestinian cause,” he emphasized.
The four activists had been detained in Israel since Wednesday night till the next day when Israeli forces intercepted around 50 vessels from the Global Flotilla Sumud, which aimed to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Several demonstrators waved flags, Palestinian scarves, and banners with slogans like “Free Palestine” and “Thank you Mariana, Sofia, Diogo, and Miguel for representing us.”
Among the demonstrators were former and current leaders of the Left Bloc, including Francisco Louçã, Catarina Martins, Luís Fazenda, Jorge Costa, and others.
