A strong police presence, including police officers, vans from the Special Police Unit, and members of the PSP’s Rapid Intervention Teams, accompanied approximately 30 people who marched through the center of Lisbon to demand the return of immigrants living in Portugal to their countries of origin.
For the organizers of the march, the Reconquista movement, which describes itself as a “Portuguese nationalist and traditionalist political” group, “the only solution” to “restore the prosperity and survival of the Portuguese people” is to “close the borders” and for immigrants to return to their countries of origin.
“Remigration is the solution” and “close the doors and borders” were the most frequently heard phrases from the protesters, who wore white shirts and carried flags with the Reconquista symbol (a cross).
At the beginning of the demonstration, the movement’s leader, Afonso Gonçalves, warned participants about the rules they should follow to be part of the initiative, including not giving interviews to journalists without consent, not responding to provocations, and respecting the police.
The event took place without incidents, but journalists covering the demonstration were booed by the protesters at the urging of the movement’s leader.
