Parliament in Portugal to push forward with controversial historic celebration tomorrow regardless of global Coronavirus pandemic

Parliament in Portugal to push forward with controversial historic celebration tomorrow regardless of global Coronavirus pandemic

PORTUGAL’S Parliament will go ahead with celebrations tomorrow (Saturday) to mark the Carnation Revolution of 1974, despite many opposing the decision of the government to hold such an event during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The controversy around the topic of staging an event in parliament to mark the anniversary has recently intensified, with two online petitions being launched; one in favour of holding the event and another opposing it.
The online petition in favour of cancelling celebrations has already gathered more than 100,000 signatures, while another that defends the celebration by the Assembly of the Republic, posted last Saturday, had more than 24,000 subscribers at the same time, headed by historical leftist figures such as Manuel Alegre, Fernando Rosas and Domingos Abrantes.

Last week, the leader of the CDS-PP, Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, announced that he would not attend, as he considered it to be “a terrible example for the Portuguese,” and the only deputy of Chega, André Ventura, wrote to the president of parliament, asking Ferro Rodrigues to cancel the session, saying that it “is generating a huge feeling of revolt and indignation in the Portuguese people.”

The President of the Assembly of the Republic, Ferro Rodrigues, assured that “more than at any other time, April 25 must be and will be celebrated in the AR.”

“Celebrating April 25 is to say that no anti-democratic alternative will emerge from this crisis,” he added.