AL suspension
Lisbon’s municipal assembly has approved the suspension of any new AL licences (AL standing for ‘Alojamento Local’ and meaning ‘shortterm holiday lets’) in parishes where the ratio of AL properties to permanent homes is more than 2.5%. According to Público, this means that wherever there are more than 2.5 ALs in 100 homes, registrations are to remain ‘suspended’ for at least the next six months.
LISBON || Since Sunday, horrific footage of a punch-up outside a Lisbon disco has been widely featured over Portuguese television for the fact that one 26-year-old off-duty PSP agent died from his injuries, and two naval marines (purportedly due to take part in a UN mission of ‘dissuasion’ in a country bordering Ukraine) have been cited as official suspects.
Charges stacked up against Cláudio Coimbra, 21 – described as “a boxing champion” – and Vadym Hrynko, 22 – a dual Portuguese/Ukrainian national who apparently trained at the same gym as Coimbra – include aggravated murder and grievous bodily harm.
They have both been held in Tomar military prison, and were due to be questioned as the Resident went to press.
The pair are not believed to have been the only men involved in Fábio Guerra’s hideous death. CCTV footage seems to suggest a civilian, by the name of Clóvis Abreu, may have dealt ‘the killer blow’ (see below), and that his motivation for the brutality came from the fact that his own father died in a shootout with GNR police a little over a year ago.
Meantime, the tragedy of Fábio Guerra’s passing has been marked by all the country’s police forces, their syndicates, the mayor of Lisbon, firefighters and particularly President Marcelo, who visited the Alfragide police post where Guerra was attached, and who has since visited his family in Covilhã as well.
By all accounts, Fábio was a young man who had made a name for himself trying to ‘stop problems’, wherever they occurred.
In this situation, an incident broke out outside the MOME discotheque between two groups as revellers were leaving in the early hours of Saturday morning. True to form, Fábio Guerra moved in to try to break up the unpleasantness.
He was in the company of three other off-duty PSP agents, all of whom were physically rounded upon once they identified themselves as police.
But Fábio received the worst of the beatings: repeatedly being kicked in the head after falling to the ground unconscious.
At one point, video footage seems to show him being hit in the head by a man wielding a rock, or stone of some kind.
By the time INEM rescue personnel reached the scene, many of the attackers had run off.
Fábio Guerra was rushed to hospital with severe head trauma and a perforated lung.
He never regained consciousness, dying early on Monday morning.
President Marcelo has paid tribute to the young man, saying he “will be remembered for his selflessness, courage and dedication to the service of others and public safety (…) There are some people who are born to serve others; he was one of them”.
An entry on the PSP’s official Facebook page paid homage to their colleague, saying: “Real heroes are not those who save the world, but those who make it worth saving.”
On Wednesday, a funeral cortege wound its way past various Lisbon landmarks. The procession was due to end at the PSP’s Lisbon headquarters for a short ceremony, before the hearse carrying Fábio Guerra’s coffin continued on to Covilhã cemetery, near to his family home.