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.”
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Portugal arrests dozens in crackdown on neo-Nazi group
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Portugal arrests dozens in crackdown on neo-Nazi group
- The victims were mostly immigrants from Muslim-majority countries in South Asia
- The far right has been gaining in popularity with anti-immigrant messaging
Hundreds of thousands without power after storm lashes France
- Around 450,000 households in southern France were without power on Friday, operator Enedis said, a day after a storm tore through the region, ripping up trees and flooding roads
PARIS: Around 450,000 households in southern France were without power on Friday, operator Enedis said, a day after a storm tore through the region, ripping up trees and flooding roads.
High winds and hard rain brought chaos across southern France, northern Spain and parts of Portugal on Thursday, forcing cancelations of flights, trains and ferries and disruption on roads.
French officials said a truck driver was killed when a tree smashed through his windscreen, while dozens were injured in weather-related incidents in Spain and a viaduct in Portugal partially collapsed because of flooding.
French forecasters said the storm, named Nils, was “unusually strong” and France’s electricity distributor said it had mobilized around 3,000 as it battled to reconnect households to the grid.
“Enedis has restored service to 50 percent of the 900,000 customers who were without electricity,” it wrote around 6:00 am (0500 GMT).
“Flooding complicates repairs because the fields are waterlogged and some roads are blocked,” Enedis crisis director Herve Champenois said during a press briefing on Thursday.
Residents across the south of France were shocked at the storm’s ferocity.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ingrid, a florist in the city of Perpignan, told AFP. “A tree almost fell on my car — two seconds more and it would have.”
“During the night, you could hear tiles lifting, rubbish bins rolling down the street — it was crazy,” said Eugenie Ferrier, 32, from the village of Roaillan near Bordeaux in the southwest.
Forecasters said the storm had moved eastwards away from French territory during Thursday, though some areas were still on alert for flooding.
High winds and hard rain brought chaos across southern France, northern Spain and parts of Portugal on Thursday, forcing cancelations of flights, trains and ferries and disruption on roads.
French officials said a truck driver was killed when a tree smashed through his windscreen, while dozens were injured in weather-related incidents in Spain and a viaduct in Portugal partially collapsed because of flooding.
French forecasters said the storm, named Nils, was “unusually strong” and France’s electricity distributor said it had mobilized around 3,000 as it battled to reconnect households to the grid.
“Enedis has restored service to 50 percent of the 900,000 customers who were without electricity,” it wrote around 6:00 am (0500 GMT).
“Flooding complicates repairs because the fields are waterlogged and some roads are blocked,” Enedis crisis director Herve Champenois said during a press briefing on Thursday.
Residents across the south of France were shocked at the storm’s ferocity.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ingrid, a florist in the city of Perpignan, told AFP. “A tree almost fell on my car — two seconds more and it would have.”
“During the night, you could hear tiles lifting, rubbish bins rolling down the street — it was crazy,” said Eugenie Ferrier, 32, from the village of Roaillan near Bordeaux in the southwest.
Forecasters said the storm had moved eastwards away from French territory during Thursday, though some areas were still on alert for flooding.
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