LISBON: Portuguese police said on Tuesday they had detained dozens of suspected members of a group that spread neo-Nazi propaganda and committed hate crimes against immigrants.
The 37 suspects had “extensive criminal records and links to international groups that promote hate,” the judicial police said in a statement, adding that 15 people had been formally charged.
The victims were mostly immigrants from Muslim-majority countries in South Asia, according to local media.
The arrival of workers from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, has boosted Portugal’s foreign-born population in recent years to around 15 percent of the total.
At the same time, the far right has been gaining in popularity with anti-immigrant messaging.
The authorities said the suspects founded a hierarchical criminal organization to promote racial hatred and violence.
Those arrested are due in court on Wednesday, suspected of spreading “neo-Nazi ideas... to intimidate and persecute ethnic minorities, particularly immigrants.”
