In a statement, SOS Racismo "appeals to the Public Prosecutor's Office to establish the legally foreseen procedures so that the conduct in question can be duly investigated", citing the provisions of the Penal Code, in article 240, with regard to the crime of discrimination and incitement to hatred.

"Freedom of expression can never serve as a screen to legitimize racism, nor can it ever be above human dignity. Today, the President of the Assembly of the Republic has done democracy a great disservice: he has legitimized the use of the Assembly of the Republic as an instrument for hate speech and criminal practices (...)", the statement reads.

The document also argues that Aguiar-Branco's attitude "ended up not only legitimizing all the hate speech of the far right, but will also serve to amplify it" and that "it is the function of the President of the Assembly of the Republic to defend the Constitution, the law and the fundamental rights of all people -- above all, the right to human dignity".

Today, in parliament, Chega leader André Ventura caused an incident when he questioned the 10 years foreseen for the construction of the new airport, stating: "We can be much better than the Turks, the Chinese, the Albanians, we will have an airport in five years".

Immediately, the parliamentary leader of the BE, Fabian Figueiredo, asked to speak to argue that "attributing characteristics and stereotypes to a people should have no place in the democratic debate of the Assembly of the Republic".

In response, the president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, said he disagreed with this view.

"I do not agree, because democratic debate is about each one being able to express themselves exactly as they wish to do so. In the opinion of the president of the Assembly, the proceedings are being conducted in a way that ensures the free expression of all deputies, it has nothing to do with what I personally think, I will not be the censor of any of the deputies", he stated.

The parliamentary leader of the PS, Alexandra Leitão, also asked to speak to question "whether a certain bench can also say that a certain race or ethnicity is more stupid or lazy".

"In my opinion, it can. Freedom of expression is constitutionally enshrined. The evaluation of political discourse that is made here in this house will be made by the people in elections", replied the president of the Assembly of the Republic.

In the statement released today, SOS Racismo argues that André Ventura committed a crime of discrimination and incitement to hatred, adding that "when someone states that 'a certain race or certain ethnicity is more stupid, more lazy or less worthy', they are also committing the same crime".

The association highlights the moment in which "racist and xenophobic narratives are proliferating and a climate of extremely high hostility and criminalization of migrants and racialized people is growing" and calls for "the utmost rigor and political responsibility" in interventions, adding that parliament, as a representative of democracy "should be an example of civic quality".

SOS Racismo argues that "it is unacceptable" that nationalities and origins should be portrayed in parliament "in the light of derogatory, racist and xenophobic representations".

"In the same way, it is unacceptable that statements should be made in the Assembly of the Republic that attack and violate rights to honor and dignity and that, above all, feed social representations that leave people unprotected and put them at concrete risks of violence and discrimination in their daily lives", the statement adds.

Later in the afternoon, in statements to journalists, Aguiar-Branco argued that it is not his responsibility to censor the positions or opinions of deputies, referring to the Public Prosecutor's Office any possible criminal liability for parliamentary discourse, also rejecting that he had made a mistake in allowing André Ventura to continue his speech this morning, after he had said that "the Turks are not exactly known for being the hardest working people in the world".

Read Also: Benches contest Ventura's intervention, but Aguiar-Branco lets it pass (Portuguese version)