“Where is the Foreigners and Borders Service? Where are they? The Border and Immigration Service is investigating these three joints […]. Where are they? They were extinct in November 2021, they were supposed to be restructured, they were supposed to be reformulated in 60 days, more than a year has passed, where are they?”, asked Councilwoman Filipa Roseta (PSD).
The mayor, responsible for Housing, was speaking at the Lisbon City Council meeting, after the lack of conditions for immigrants’ reception had been addressed by the deputies, following the fire in a building in Mouraria, and after the approval, unanimously, of the PEV and PAN’s condolences for the victims of this “tragedy”.
On Saturday night, a fire broke out in a building on Rua do Terreirinho, in the Mouraria neighborhood, killing two people, a 30-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy, both of Indian nationality, and injuring 14 people, all of whom have now been released from hospital.
Councilwoman Filipa Roseta left a note of sorrow for the two people who died in this fire, who allegedly lived in overcrowding in a first floor occupied by 22 immigrants, and considered that “a country of emigrants must always have a great revolt when it sees something like this”.
The PSD mayor insisted on the question about the SEF’s intervention, to which the PS municipal deputy Miguel Teixeira answered that “the SEF is not extinct, it has not ceased its functions and the borders have not ceased to be controlled”, and asked the social-democrat to share the data she has on irregularities in the reception of immigrants in Lisbon, namely in the three parishes, although she did not say which ones.
Councilwoman Filipa Roseta left a note of sorrow for the two people who died in this fire, who allegedly lived in overcrowding in a first floor occupied by 22 immigrants, and considered that “a country of emigrants must always have a great revolt when it sees something like this”.
The PSD mayor insisted on the question about the SEF’s intervention, to which the PS municipal deputy Miguel Teixeira answered that “the SEF is not extinct, it has not ceased its functions and the borders have not ceased to be controlled”, and asked the social-democrat to share the data she has on irregularities in the reception of immigrants in Lisbon, namely in the three parishes, although she did not say which ones.
In response, the leader of the PSD municipal group, Luís Newton, said that “this is not everyone’s fault”, referring to the assumption of responsibilities regarding the reception of immigrants, and highlighted the “tireless work” of councilwoman Filipa Roseta.
From the Chega party, Nuno Pardal agreed with the Housing councillor’s question about where the SEF is, asking how is it possible that in the borough of Arroios there are, “per square meter, 30 thousand people of 80 nationalities”, a street with 10 thousand residents or a building with 1,400 residents.
“The undignified and inhumane conditions of these migrants should shame the competent authorities and all of us in this house [city council]. While many of you are busy trying to attach labels to the Chega party, we are concerned with these people, with denouncing these cases, and with the people of Lisbon who are also suffering from the uncontrolled wave of immigration,” said Nuno Pardal.
The deputy from Chega pointed out that the first floor where the fire broke out in a building in Mouraria was “a store rented for 750 euros that was allegedly illegally sublet to house immigrants”, housing 22 people, and the overcrowding of this fraction made it difficult to evacuate the building and help the victims.
Defending “a planned, controlled and integrated immigration policy”, Nuno Pardal considered that these situations in the reception of migrants are “a new form of slavery”, and therefore “it is urgent to carry out a deep investigation on the mass attribution of residence permits”.
The president of the Santa Maria Maior Parish Council, Miguel Coelho (PS), responsible for the territory of Mouraria, emphasized that “it is always complicated when dealing with tragedies to make political interpretations” and stressed that “in no way can immigrants be blamed for what happened”.
The alert for the fire in Mouraria was given at 8:37 pm on Saturday and the fire was declared extinguished at 9:15 pm.
