“We cannot fail to repudiate the act of violence that, on the night of June 10, led to the cancellation of the show ‘Love is a fire that burns unseen’, on stage at Cinearte, a municipal theater,” wrote the Cultural Equipment and Animation Management Company (EGEAC – Lisbon Culture) on its Facebook page.
The municipal company also extends its solidarity to actor Adérito Lopes, who was attacked by a far-right group and hospitalized with facial injuries, as well as to the entire theater company’s team.
The councilors and elected representatives of the PCP at the Lisbon Municipal Assembly (AML) also strongly condemned “the aggression perpetrated by members of a neo-Nazi organization against actors of the A Barraca Theater Company, last night in Lisbon.”
“There can be no room for this in the city, or in the country, and this crime cannot go unpunished. Authorities are required to continue identifying and acting against those responsible (individuals and organizations) for this aggression,” reads a statement they sent to the press.
The PCP councilors and elected representatives at the AML also expressed “their full solidarity” with the attacked actors, the company, and its other actors and workers.
Actor Adérito Lopes from the A Barraca theater company was attacked on Tuesday night by a far-right group in Lisbon, when entering a free-entry tribute show to Camões, said the company director, Maria do Céu Guerra.
In statements to Lusa, the actress Maria do Céu Guerra reported that it was around 20:00, as the actors were arriving at Cinearte, in Largo de Santos, when they encountered “a group of neo-Nazis with posters, programs,” with various xenophobic phrases, who began by provoking one of the actresses.
“Meanwhile, the other actors were arriving. Two were provoked and a third was violently attacked, suffered an eye injury, a large cut on the face,” stated the director, 82, who said that the actor in question had to receive hospital treatment.
A PSP source told Lusa that they were called at 20:15 to Largo de Santos due to “news of aggression,” where they were contacted by a 45-year-old man, who “reported that, upon leaving his personal vehicle, he was attacked by an individual.”
The PSP, with the characteristics of the potential suspect provided by the victim and a friend, conducted several operations in the streets adjacent to Largo de Santos, managing to locate and intercept a 20-year-old man suspected of being the perpetrator of the assault, the same source added.
The PSP identified the individuals involved in this case – the suspect, victim, and witness – and will communicate all the facts ascertained to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
