delegate denied racism, says mother

During the complaint, the police chief allegedly interrupted his testimony. Nívia said she expected the police authorities to help her or at least give her instructions on what to do, but she said she was met with hostility.

An investigator reportedly said that “there is no racism or xenophobia in Portugal”. “He knocked on the table, came very close to me and said ‘I won’t accept you saying that here. Here in Portugal there is no racism or xenophobia'”, the mother recalled to the broadcaster.

According to Nívia, only one mother of one of the students provided support to her. “She came and asked me if her daughter had ever abused my son. I said ‘not to my knowledge’. She was the only mother who said anything.”

Understand the case

Nívia states that she received a call from the school saying that her son had suffered a minor accident on November 10th. When he arrived at the school, he found the boy sitting, with his bloody hand, bandaged and with ice on it. In the ambulance, Nívia says that the firefighter put something in her hand and asked her to hold it. When he asked what it was, he heard: “It’s your son’s finger.”

The boy was taken to Hospital de São João, in Porto, where he underwent three hours of surgery. It was not possible to reconstruct the tips of the two fingers. Five days later, the child had his limbs partially amputated.