A 39-year-old man was arrested on Saturday, March 21, for throwing an incendiary device at participants at the March for Life in front of the country\u2019s Parliament building in Lisbon, Portugal. <\/p>\n
According to the police, at the time of the attack \u201cthe demonstration comprised approximately 500 participants,\u201d including families with young children and babies. The man approached the scene and \u201churled an improvised incendiary device \u2014 a \u2018Molotov cocktail\u2019 containing gasoline \u2014 in the direction of the people present; the device struck the ground but failed to ignite, thereby averting potentially more serious consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The suspect was apprehended and arrested at the scene. The police stated that other \u201cindividuals who were allegedly part of a group with anarchist leanings\u201d fled, but three members were subsequently identified.<\/p>\n
The authorities also seized the device, \u201cconsisting of a glass bottle containing flammable liquid and textile material \u2014 as well as other items of evidentiary value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commenting on the case, Portugal\u2019s minister of internal administration, Lu\u00eds Neves, said on social media: \u201cWe do not tolerate any form of violent extremism, and we will continue to act firmly to prevent and combat it, safeguarding democratic values.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Portuguese Federation for Life, which organized the March for Life, issued a statement on March 23 classifying Saturday\u2019s incident as a \u201cterrorist attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recounting the event, the federation emphasized that while the incendiary device did not ignite, \u201cthe fuel used in the device\u201d splashed on \u201cseveral people, including two babies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHad the ignition not failed, we would be talking today about the deaths of children and infants,\u201d the federation stated. However, the group emphasized that \u201cthe failure of the attack cannot obscure the fact that a political organization planned and sought to carry out an attack using an incendiary device against a public event packed with families, youths, and children.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Portuguese Federation for Life urged \u201cthat this attack be treated by the authorities as the act of terrorism that it is.\u201d The group also requested that if any link between the attackers and a political organization is established, that organization should \u201cbe declared a terrorist organization, as provided for in the counterterrorism law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the federation called upon \u201call those who, especially in the exercise of public office, have in recent years employed a tone of hatred against the pro-life movement, accusing us of countless evils, to search their consciences and understand the consequences of their rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n
The federation announced that it will request a meeting with the minister of internal administration and the prosecutor general of the republic to address the incident and that, \u201cat the appropriate moment,\u201d it will \u201cjoin as an amicus curiae [friend of the court] in the ensuing judicial proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n
The patriarch of Lisbon, Rui Manuel Sousa Val\u00e9rio, condemned the attack against the March for Life.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch events are gravely unacceptable,\u201d Sousa Val\u00e9rio said. He emphasized that \u201cviolence is never the way,\u201d that it \u201charms human dignity and does not serve the truth.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it becomes even more painful when it threatens the most vulnerable, especially children, who should always be a sign of hope and never exposed to fear,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n
The patriarch expressed \u201chis closeness to all those who participated in this initiative and, in particular, to the families and children who may have felt fear and insecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Church is close to everyone; it accompanies and prays for each person. No incidence of violence can erase the good accomplished, the witness given, and the hope sown,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The March for Life took place in 12 Portuguese cities on Saturday. In addition to Lisbon, demonstrators took to the streets to take a stand against abortion and euthanasia in Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragan\u00e7a, Coimbra, Faro, Guarda, Lamego, Porto, Set\u00fabal, and Viseu.<\/p>\n
This year, the March for Life adopted the theme \u201cThe Pro-Life People Take to the Streets\u201d and aimed to be a march \u201cfor the dignity of all human beings, for life from the moment of conception until natural death, and for families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abortion was legalized in Portugal in 2007 after a national referendum.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV sent a message to the participants of the March for Life, stating that \u201cthe family is, by divine design, the natural guardian of life\u201d and therefore, it is necessary \u201cto ensure that it does not lack the conditions required to welcome nascent life and to care, with renewed commitment, for that which is in decline (ailing or elderly persons).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMay public resources sustain Portuguese families, specifically supporting women who are about to become mothers and fostering the implementation of authentic policies of solidarity that draw citizens closer to the most needy, the marginalized, the lonely, and migrants in whom the face of Christ shines,\u201d the pope said.<\/p>\n
Of the culture of death, Leo said that \u201cmere declarations of good intentions, and least of all, illusory forms of compassion such as euthanasia and, ultimately, abortion, do not serve the development of our societies.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his view, \u201cideas and words that inspire actions and gestures that raise up human dignity are indispensable, a goal to which friendship with Christ, fostered through the prayerful reading of the Gospel within the family, contributes immensely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope also encouraged newlyweds to \u201cwelcome God\u2019s love and allow it to bear fruit, thereby mirroring the joy of marriage and parenthood.\u201d<\/p>\n