The increase in the security alert level in Portugal is currently “under evaluation” through a dialogue between the internal security system and the security forces and services, the interior minister said on Tuesday.
‘No thought is given to it [o aumento do nível de alerta]is at this stage subject to an evaluation in the dialogue developed with the security forces and services,” José Luis Carneiro told journalists, when asked whether Portugal will increase the level of security alerts following the recent attacks in France and Belgium after the armed conflict between Israel and the Islamic movement Hamas.
The minister noted that the Secretary General of the Internal Security System (SSI), Paulo Vizeu Pinheiro, “has been in coordination with international entities working with European countries and has also been in coordination with the security forces and security services.”
The official added that it is “depending on continued dialogue that measures deemed appropriate in terms of security will be taken, but always with prior assessment, with great feeling, consideration and balance”.
The minister also said that the person who can provide “adequate information” on this issue is the Secretary General of the SSI, who “has the role of coordination and liaison between the security forces and services.”
“There are specific examples of international police operations where dialogue and information have been exchanged. Any questions from any institution, especially deputies, through the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, should be directed to the SSI”said the minister at the end of the inauguration ceremony of the director of the Higher Institute of Police Sciences and Homeland Security (ISCPSI), Luís Farinha.
Chega announced on Tuesday that it will request hearings with the Minister of the Interior and the intelligence services so that they can clarify measures to prevent “attacks such as those that took place in France and Belgium”.
The Lusa agency has questioned the SSI about the security measures taken in Portugal, but has not received a response so far.
The Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7 with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen by land, sea and air.
In response, Israel bombed several Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip from the air and imposed a total siege of the territory, cutting off water, fuel and electricity supplies.
The attacks have already caused thousands of deaths and injuries in both areas.
Following these attacks, a teacher was stabbed in front of a secondary school in northern France last Friday, injuring three other people. The perpetrator of the attack – who is twenty years old, has Chechen-Russian nationality and is accused of Islamic radicalization – claimed responsibility for the act on behalf of the Islamic State organization.
On Monday, two people were shot dead and another injured in Brussels, with the suspect killed by police.
After this attack, the alert level in Brussels was raised to the maximum level.
Source: DN
