The president of the republic said on Wednesday that the attack on the Ismaili center, which killed two people, may be related to the exercise of parental authority and praised the response of Portuguese society in general to the case.
At the end of the meeting of the Council of State, in the Palácio da Cidadela de Cascais, in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa again defended that no generalizations should be made on the basis of that criminal act of a widowed Afghan refugee, with three minor children.
According to the head of state “what has been established so far seems to confirm” that it is “an individual case, that it was a psychological, personal and familial case that occurs in many circumstances in many people”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa mentioned that in the legal field “experts in family law talked about these situations, which are always very complicated, very, very complicated, the exercise of parental authority and everything behind it and the consequences it has on the human behavior”.
When asked if this case should be a warning for better surveillance of refugees in Portugal, the President of the Republic replied: “Here, this surveillance could not be more attentive. Even if there were problems, it was because he was very attentive”.
“If there was a personal response – let’s see if this is the explanation – personal, family, it is precisely because there was a concern on the part of the community with that family, with the family framework and behavior within the family framework. But you know, it happens to a lot of families where the reactions to the intervention of institutions related to the exercise of parental power provoke reactions,” he added.
As for how the Portuguese reacted to the crimes that took place in Lisbon’s Ismaili center on Tuesday, the head of state believed that “overall, Portuguese society responded very well – very, very, very, very, very well”, with “common sense” and with “the same serenity” that characterizes the Ismaili Muslim community.
When asked about political reactions in another sentence, he avoided comment.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa reiterated the message that this “is a specific case” and “must be seen as such, it is not possible to generalize it to more people, to more sectors of Portuguese society”.
It happened “with a very peaceful community like the Ismaili community, a community that provides a well-known social service, including people – the author himself was involved for a long time -, which is characterized by great serenity in these situations “, he considered .
According to him, the Portuguese understood this, which is “a good sign of maturity in Portuguese society”.
Source: DN
