Members of the PSP and GNR are back to protesting today for better pay, demanding a supplement identical to that given to the Judicial Police, with vigils at Portuguese airports and Lisbon’s seaport.
After the demonstrations in Lisbon and Porto, which in January brought together thousands of members of the security forces and were considered the biggest ever, the platform that brings together PSP unions and GNR associations is promoting vigils at Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Ponta Delgada and Funchal airports, as well as Lisbon’s seaport, starting at 06:00 today.
The platform’s spokesman, Bruno Pereira, told Lusa that the police had chosen the airports for the vigils, as they are “symbolic for those visiting Portugal”, and that the aim of the protests was to “demonstrate the problems with the salaries of the Portuguese police”.
The president of the National Union of Police Officers (SNOP) added that “it’s important to keep the issue on the agenda” so that the next government takes a position on the payment of the mission supplement, as was done for the PJ.
The platform, which brings together seven unions from the Public Security Police and four associations from the National Republican Guard, has also scheduled a sit-in in Lisbon’s Praça do Comércio next Monday and a national meeting of PSP police officers and GNR soldiers on March 2.
Members of the PSP and GNR have staged several protests to demand a supplement identical to that awarded to the Judicial Police, and the protest began over a month ago.
Most of the protests have been called through social networks, namely WhatsApp and Telegram, and the inorganic movement ‘movimento inop’ has emerged, which has no intervention from the unions, despite the existence of a platform created to demand a review of pay supplements in the security forces.
In the last few days, several PSP police officers and GNR soldiers have taken sick leave, which has led to the cancellation of matches in the I and II soccer leagues, although the platform does not assume that this is a form of protest, and the Minister of Internal Affairs has ordered the opening of an urgent investigation by the General Inspectorate of Internal Affairs into these sudden casualties.
