“This crime cannot go unpunished,” Tiago Rodrigues wrote on social media following the attack on the theater company “A Barraca” and its actors on Tuesday night in Lisbon.
“Violence against freedom of expression and creation cannot pass. Fear cannot pass. They shall not pass,” concluded the author of the award-winning play “Catarina e a beleza de matar fascistas.”
Actor Adérito Lopes from the theater company “A Barraca” was assaulted on Tuesday night by a far-right group in Lisbon as he was entering a free event honoring Camões, according to the company’s director, Maria do Céu Guerra.
In statements to Lusa, actress and director Maria do Céu Guerra recounted that around 8:00 PM, as the actors were arriving at Cinearte in Largo de Santos, they encountered “a group of neo-Nazis with posters” at the entrance, displaying various xenophobic phrases and initially provoking one of the actresses.
“Meanwhile, other actors were arriving. Two were provoked, and a third was violently attacked, suffered an eye injury, and a large cut on his face,” stated the 82-year-old director, adding that the injured actor required hospital treatment.
A PSP source told Lusa that the police were called to Largo de Santos around 8:15 PM due to reports of assaults, where they were approached by a 45-year-old man who stated that he was attacked by an individual as he was exiting his personal vehicle.
Based on the description of the suspect provided by the victim and a friend, the PSP conducted a search in the surrounding streets of Largo de Santos, locating and intercepting a 20-year-old man suspected of the assault, the source added.
The PSP identified the individuals involved in this case—the suspect, the victim, and a witness—and will communicate all gathered facts to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
