Portugal’s capital experienced a second night of riots into the early hours of Wednesday morning, triggered by the murder of Odair Moniz, a Cape Verdean man who was shot and killed by a police officer late on Sunday night.
The uprising spread to areas including Amadora near Lisbon, with bins and even buses set on fire. In the Zambujal neighbourhood, a Carris bus was seized by militants who subsequently set it on fire.
During the night, riots also took place in the municipality of Oeiras, where shots were fired and another bus was set on fire, as well as a smaller vehicle and several bins.
In Sintra, a projectile was thrown at the police station in Casal de Cambra. In nearby Damaia, rioters threw firecrackers and stones onto the public highway and set alight several bins.
Two police officers were injured in the municipalities of Amadora and Oeiras “as a result of stone-throwing, both of whom required hospital treatment and one of whom went on sick leave”.
Three people had been arrested following the riots.
The murder of Odair Moniz
Police murdered Odair Moniz, a 43 year old Black man, who was born in Cape Verde, in the Alto neighbourhood of Cova da Moura shortly before 6 am on Monday morning.
Odair Moreno Moniz, generally known as “Dá”, had lived for over two decades in Portugal. He was married and the father of three children, 19, 18 and 2 years old.
Although an initial PSP (public security police) statement accounts for an attempted aggression by Moniz, allegedly wielding a knife, which was then found by the PSP next to the site of the events, this information was denied by the agents themselves.
The news of Odair Moniz’s death triggered a revolt in the Zambujal neighborhood, where he lived, with several residents considering that what happened were “two shots against a disarmed worker”
On Tuesday, dozens of people gathered outside the flat where Moniz lived in the Zambujal neighbourhood of Amadora to pay tribute. The 43-year-old owned and ran a local café and was known to everyone in the neighbourhood.
The vigil and protest was called by an association of local residents.
Residents emphasised Odair’s much loved personality and refused to believe the PSP’s version of events surrounding Moniz’s death.
Gilberto Pinto, president of the neighbourhood residents’ association, warned authorities that local anger could spread. “This will snowball, a feeling of injustice has taken hold.”