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Assignment: ‘Police State' Portugal

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‘Police State' Portugal

23/04/2015

BBC World Service - Assignment, ‘Police State' Portugal

Does Portugal have a problem with police brutality and racism?

Does Portugal have a problem with police brutality and racism? The residents of Cova da Moura, a largely immigrant community, believe that it does.

***Warning: contains strong language***
Does Portugal have a problem with police brutality and racism? In February a group of young black men from the Lisbon suburb of Cova da Moura allege they were beaten and racially abused at a police station. Police claim the men tried to invade the station. Residents of Cova da Moura are mostly from immigrant backgrounds, and they say this is just the latest of a number of serious incidents in the past few years, and claim that the neighbourhood has become a ‘police state’. 

James Fletcher travels to Cova da Moura to investigate whether police are too heavy handed towards black and immigrant communities, and whether those communities are bearing the brunt of Portugal’s austerity driven spending cuts.

(Photo: Grafitti on a wall in the Lisbon suburb of Cova da Moura, where residents have accused the police of brutality and racism. BBC copyright)

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