The management of the Maia sports group, where a congress of the supremacist group Reconquista took place this Saturday, announced that will now “reject any political event” on its premises, as they have been “attacked with insults and threats” intended to pressure the cancellation of that event.
“Realizing that these anti-democratic attacks create a brutal social uproarand in order to protect all the municipality’s institutions, we will from now on reject any political events on our premises. It is a victory that we give to those who do not know how to live in society, but we only do it because we always respect and support the different institutions in the municipality and we do not accept that they have to subject themselves to cowardly attacks as they were victims of last Saturday when they have no responsibility for our line of management”, explains the management of Clube Maia Sport, in a statement released on social media.
Not communicated, Maia Sport directors deny sharing the same ideology as the supremacist group. “We take this opportunity to clarify that our political convictions, which are varied, are not an important factor in authorizing the holding of events, but rather the legality that the promoters have”, they state, adding that “it is not the first time” that they have tried to politically label the club. “The ridiculous thing is that the first time we were a sports complex for Brazilians and now we are an anti-immigration institution. The curiosity remains as to what we will be tomorrow…”, they say.
The club emphasizes that the Reconquista congress “took place normally”, with the exception of “cowardly insults hidden on social media”, both on the club’s pages and on the pages of various institutions in the municipality, by people who tried to pressure the club to cancel the conference on your premises.
“The freedom of expression won by the 25th of April is not just to be ‘used’ when it suits us”, criticizes the club.
Racist and misogynistic posts
The conference organizer, Afonso Gonçalves, is a digital influencer who shares racist and misogynistic videos and posts.
Expresso knows that the leader of this inorganic movement was accused in November last year on suspicion of hate crimes and discrimination. In one of the investigations in which he is targeted by the Public Ministry, Afonso Gonçalves is being investigated for having filmed himself, at the beginning of last year, inside a mosque in the North of the country, citing passages from the Koran. “This is what we are accepting in our country. This is what we are bringing into Portugal, in every town, in every city, with state funding. We are financing our own destruction. It is a time bomb waiting to explode. This cannot continue”, he stated. The statements caused social alarm in the region.
This year, Afonso Gonçalves was already detained by the PSP, for threats made against immigrants who were waiting in line at AIMA to process their legalization documents in Portugal, in April. And also next to a Sikh temple, in Odivelas, in June. In March, he had appeared at the Lisbon Municipal Assembly (AML) to talk about security and crime, but ended up being removed from the room by the Municipal Police, accused of disobeying the rules and making an “injurious speech”. In recent years, elements of Reconquista invaded a pride march in Évora, a launch session for an inclusive book in Lisbon, held a counter-demonstration on the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April and were a regular presence at Chega gatherings.