Lisbon, Jan. 6, 2026 (Lusa) - The mayor of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, has described images of people firing military weapons in a municipal neighbourhood as "unacceptable" and, although the Public Security Police is stepping up prevention operations, he called on the Government to provide more police officers in the city.
"These images in which we see individuals firing military weapons are unacceptable in our city. Unacceptable because it is a paradigm shift, that is, seeing military weapons, weapons of that calibre, being fired in a municipal neighbourhood cannot happen," said Carlos Moedas (PSD).
The mayor was speaking after a restricted Municipal Security Council meeting on Monday evening, attended only by officers from the Municipal Police and the Lisbon Metropolitan Command (Cometlis) of the Public Security Police, which also served to take stock of security in the capital.
"The information that the Public Security Police is also bringing us here, obviously not only in this specific case, which is under investigation, but to bring some security to the people, is that the Public Security Police is increasing the number of operations, of operations to prevent this type of event," said Moedas.
The mayor added that the PSP police will be "more present and with more special crime prevention operations," which will be "increased constantly, but also permanently," in the "coming weeks, but also in the coming months."
Regarding the images posted on social media of a group firing automatic and semi-automatic weapons on New Year's Eve in the Alfredo Bensaúde neighbourhood, Carlos Moedas expressed "great concern" about what happened and questioned how it is possible to have this "type of weapon" in the city and for them to be used in Lisbon's neighbourhoods.
The mayor said he had spoken to residents of the Bensaúde neighbourhood and the head of the Olivais Parish Council, noting that "the concern is obviously very great", also because "people often don't leave their homes because they are afraid".
"And so, that is also what I conveyed to the Public Security Police. We need to be present. We are present in the neighbourhoods and we are protecting these people, whether through community policing or neighbourhood policing, which is done every day, but we need to give them guarantees," he stressed.
However, the mayor pointed out that, after the meeting, he was "somewhat reassured to know that the number of operations is increasing" and advocated "operations in which people can hand over their weapons to the police" to be "subsequently destroyed".
Carlos Moedas reiterated that, as mayor of Lisbon city council, he is "very concerned about security" and once again warned the government that "more PSP (Public Security Police) are needed in Lisbon".
"We need at least 500 more public security police officers in Lisbon. We have lost more than 1,000 in the last 10 years, so we need more public security police, and I will continue to fight for that," he stressed.
The mayor thanked "all the police forces for their work" during the Christmas holidays and on 31 December, which "involved more than 300 people in the city and went exceptionally well", extending his thanks to the ambulance service, INEM, Civil Protection and "so many others who worked that night".
He offered to help the central government improve conditions for security forces, rejecting the idea that security concerns are related to political parties and arguing that "any political exploitation of this is very negative."
The PSP police has opened an investigation into images of shots fired with military weapons in that Lisbon neighbourhood.
LFS/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
