The Organized Groups of Fans will protest this weekend against the bill to modify the legal regime that combats violence in sport. The proposal provides for a ban on the use of explosives and fireworks in football stadiums.
In the protests this weekend, the fans promise to remain silent in the stadiums until the 12th minute, in a symbolic way, with the support of the Portuguese Association for the Defense of Fans (APDA).
The president of the association, Martha Gens, speaks of castrating and discriminatory measures, in which the just pays for the sinner.
“The issue is that we have very diffuse legislation in all the measures that are repressive. It obliges the Organized Groups of Supporters Clubs to remain in areas for this purpose, now called Zones with Special Conditions for Access and Permanence of Supporters Clubs (ZCEAP), where it is the only area of the stadium where there is the prerogative of using materials such as bass drums and bass drums. , that is, materials that, as a general rule, are associated with sports events and that have nothing to do with violence. that these measures castrate and take, like the previous proposal, the part as a whole”, explains Martha Gens to TSF.
The bill to modify the legal regime for combating violence in sport was approved by the Council of Ministers on January 12. The Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, João Paulo Correia, defended the legislation against pyrotechnics in stadiums as a measure of force
in response to the phenomena of violence in the sports context.
But the president of the Portuguese Association for the Defense of Fans believes that hot responses are not efficient.
“If we make the supporters the same figure as the promoters, the organizers of events, such as the person in charge of security, perhaps we can create a dialectic that does not exist until today. And that is what this legislation lacks. It is a serious and committed commitment to an in-depth analysis that has to go through a sociological analysis and an in-depth debate on the subject”, he considers, and points out that “it is very easy to act hotly and promote legislative changes as long as there are facts that warrant an immediate response. That response can never be effective, let alone efficient.”
Martha Gens stresses that incidents in stadiums must be sanctioned, although she considers that the path must be one of accountability and not lean too much towards security, under penalty of losing fans in the stadiums.
“Due to the existence of incidents in sports contexts, incidents that have to be brought under duress, either in court, or as an administrative offense, or as a disciplinary issue with clubs, become a stigma that must be carried by all. Fans, who today have difficulty going to the stadiums, their free expression of collective expression, club life and love for the club, with these proposals underway, feel even more demotivated to do so”, says Martha Gens.
About two weeks ago there were protests with banners placed in the streets and viaducts of several cities. These banners read: “So much corruption and pedophilia, but is the fireworks the problem?”
Martha Gens says that the protests will continue: “We always take initiatives, through the display of banners that, currently, cannot even enter sports venues, since they correspond to a free expression of the fan. In many stadiums in our country do not enter and banners and banners have been displayed in cities from the north to the south of the country. This is just one more initiative. The fan creativity is great, so we’ll continue.”
Source: TSF
