Over the weekend a group of nationalists calling themselves the “National Resistance” gathered in front of the headquarters of the ‘SOS Racismo’ association with white masks and torches to protest against “anti-national racism”.
During their display, they also wanted to pay "tribute to policemen killed in service" and, therefore, announced that "the headquarters of SOS Racismo received a visit from us today", reads the group's Facebook page. It is not the first time that the group has "visited" the association's headquarters. In July, the building's facade was vandalized with the phrase "War on the enemies of my land", with the nationalists being thought to be the culprits.
SOS Racismo leader Mamadou Ba told press that “it is one thing to make a demonstration in the public space where they take a political position against us, but this organization sees us as a target to slaughter, make death threats to, making a military parade in the Ku Klux Klan fashion goes beyond all limits of ideological confrontation.” Ba also says that hundreds of threats from far-right trolls have been received by the SOS Racismo website.
Thus, the association will gather evidence of all of these occurrences and proceed to file a complaint at the Public Ministry, for offense to physical integrity, moral offenses, property damage and incitement to hatred and violence.
According to the Público newspaper, the “National Resistance” has in its ranks members of these organizations: the currently suspended New Social Order, created by Mário Machado; the Portugal Hammer Skins group; a group of 1143 supporters, attached to Sporting football club; the National Renovator Party; and the Chega political party, headed by MP André Ventura.
The Portuguese far-right group also publishes videos, mostly presentation cards for the group, for example: dark background images with burning torches and slogans like "Movement against communism", "For European values", "Authority", "Honour", and “Camaraderie".
There is also a video about this vigil hosted "in honour of the security forces", in which the radicals accuse SOS Racismo of ‘not defending the Portuguese people.’
