A political storm has erupted in Portugal on the occasion of the complaint of a citizen who visited her on June 25 Turkey and claims that he was arrested by the police because he “looked gay» to the police officers.
34-year-old Miguel Alvaro was on holiday in Istanbul when he asked police officers for directions. At that point the city’s Pride would take place, which the authorities described as illegal – more than 200 arrests were made in Istanbul and Izmir. The man claims he was arrested because the officers “thought I was going to attend the LGBTI+ community event, which was going to take place nearby, because I looked gay.” He added that “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time”.
Speaking to the SIC Noticias agency of his hometown, he claimed that he is angry and shocked by what happened. He said he was grabbed by eight police officers and one of them hit him in the ribs causing him to bleed and then threw him into a cage, where he stayed for 13 hours before being transferred to Sanliurfa prison in southeastern Turkey.. When he asked why he was being held, he did not receive a clear answer, while a police officer told him that it was because of his appearance.
In the prison, he said, there were maggots on the sheets, little water for the people who were there and that the inmates threatened him since it was known that he was arrested because he is gay. “I barely slept because of the fear of being attacked”he said characteristically.
The political dimension
Alvaro then reported that on July 2, he was finally allowed to contact his family and spoke to his father who told him where he was and what happened. From that moment on, the issue began to take on political dimensions.
Shocked, his father called the Portuguese embassy in Istanbul and explained the situation. Miguel Alvaro was released on July 12.
With the issue taking shape in Portugal, the left-wing Bloco de Esquerda party began criticizing the country’s Foreign Ministry in Parliament. “Did the ministry know about this case and not do anything? The family of Miguel Álvaro had informed the embassy in Turkey. No one did the slightest thing?”, the “bloquistas” reported and continued: “It is known to everyone that Turkey is one of the countries that violates human rights the most, especially for LGBTI+ people. Given that there was a Portuguese citizen imprisoned because he ‘looked gay’, does it seem reasonable to you that there was not the slightest political move or effort to help this man?”.
According to the same source, after returning from Turkey to Portugal, Miguel Álvaro, shocked by the adventure he experienced, went to Brazil where he is currently.
Source: News Beast
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