PORTUGAL: Counter-terrorism unit searches homes of Palestine solidarity collective
On 19 June 2026, the Portuguese Judicial Police, through its National Counter-Terrorism Unit, carried out house searches of members of the Collective for the Liberation of Palestine (Coletivo pela Libertação da Palestina) in Lisbon. The searches resulted in the seizure of materials and several individuals being taken in for questioning. The action has been criticised as highly opaque by civil society: the police has invoked judicial secrecy, which means that nothing is known beyond the criminal categories that underpinned the judicial search warrants.
The incident forms part of an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (DIAP Almada) into suspected criminal association, public incitement to crime, glorification of crime, aggravated damage, and offences against a legal person. However, according to the collective and a solidarity statement endorsed by over 80 civil society organisations, movements. and civic actors, the searches were an attempt to intimidate the Palestine solidarity movement, raising serious concerns about the criminalisation of Palestine solidarity activism and its deterrent effect on freedoms of assembly, expression and association.
The use of the National Counter-Terrorism Unit in relation to political activism and civic engagement risks criminalising and securitising legitimate forms of democratic participation. By applying criminal law categories such as criminal association and glorification of crime to activists and civil society organisers, there is a risk that civic engagement and legitimate forms of public participation and dissent are increasingly treated as a security matter rather than protected rights.