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WORLD NEWSWednesday 20 May 2015
Portugal investigates police beating at soccer game Greek politicians
BARRY HATTON
Associated Press
MATOSINHOS, Portugal (AP)
— Jose Magalhaes took his
two young boys and his el-
derly father to watch a big
Portuguese soccer game,
thinking it would be a treat
for all. Instead, he and his
family are at the center of
a national scandal over al-
leged police brutality.
Live video of a police of-
ficer beating Magalhaes
with a truncheon in front of
his sons outside the stadium
Sunday, and also punching
his 66-year-old father, has
sparked outrage in Portu-
gal and led to an official
investigation by authorities
of alleged abuse of power
by police.
Magalhaes told The As-
sociated Press on Tuesday
that police had allowed
him and his sons to leave
the stadium before others
because his children, aged
nine and 13, were being
crushed as fans inside cel-
ebrated a result that gave
Benfica, the club his family
supports, the Portuguese
championship title.
“It was supposed to be a
day of celebration,” Mag-
alhaes told the AP at his
Scotland Yard arrests 9 in major London jewel heist executive members, So-
GREGORY KATZ
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — With me-
ticulous planning and re-
markable good fortune,
the thieves who broke into
a safe deposit in London’s
diamond district seemed to
have pulled off the perfect
jewel heist. But their luck ran between ages 43 and 76,
out Tuesday when more
than 200 Scotland Yard of-
ficers closed in on them.
The nine arrests were a tri-
umph for embattled detec-
tives whose early work had
been criticized because
of an embarrassing failure
Jose Magalhaes is detained by police after being attacked by other policemen with batons out-
side of a stadium, in Guimaraes, Portugal, Sunday, May 17, 2015. Portuguese prosecutors are in-
vestigating a policeman who beat a man outside a soccer stadium, sparking a national scandal.
lawyer’s office Tuesday in
his hometown of Matosin-
hos, about 300 kilometers
(180 miles) north of the
capital Lisbon.
Police declined to com-
ment to the AP, but the na-
tional headquarters said in
a statement it has opened
an investigation into the
incident. The government
department that oversees
to respond to a midnight
alarm at the start of a holi- covered at one of the ad-
day weekend. That gave
the thieves more than 48
hours to carefully remove
the contents of the safe
used by jewelers in the Hat-
ton Garden district.
The suspects, all British men hard hats, the thieves en-
were questioned in a Lon-
don police station after
coordinated morning raids
in northern London and
the southeastern district of
Kent, Scotland Yard said.
It said bags containing a
significant amount of high-
the police is also analyzing police were holding rival
police conduct.
Dramatic video footage,
played widely on Portu-
guese television and on so-
cial media, shows the Mag-
alhaes family by a low wall
outside the stadium, where
the youngest child sat and
drank a bottle of water.
There were few other peo-
ple in the vicinity because
value property were re-
dresses but did not assign a off with the contents of 72
value to the heist.
The audacious robbery
over the Easter weekend
fascinated Britain. Dressed
in fluorescent vests and
tered the high-security
vault area in the London
diamond district, carrying
bags and wheeled gar-
bage bins for carrying off
the booty.
To gain entry, they climbed
down an elevator shaft and
drilled through concrete
rev up pressure
on government
DEREK GATOPOULOS
Associated Press
(AP Photo/Delfim Machado) ATHENS, Greece (AP) —
Three senior members of
Greece’s governing Syriza
fans inside the stadium at party late Monday urged
Guimaraes, also in northern the government to halt
Portugal, to avoid clashes bailout repayments —
in surrounding streets. and prepare the country
An officer questioned for a possible euro exit.
Magalhaes, then punched The group of dissenters,
his father before using a headed by the party’s
truncheon to beat Magal- former chief economist
haes on the ground while John Milios, warned that
his 9-year-old screamed Prime Minister Alexis Tsip-
“Dad! Dad!” q ras’ four-month-old gov-
ernment was being pres-
sured by rescue lenders
into abandoning election
promises and continuing
with austerity measures.
“The government can-
not be caught in a neo-
liberal trap,” Milios told a
gathering of supporters.
“This can only be broken
if it is made clear that we
intend to delay repay-
ments. We cannot disap-
point those who trusted
us.” It was strongest chal-
lenge posed to Tsipras
since the charismatic
40-year-old left-wing poli-
tician won general elec-
tions in January.Milios
was joined by two party
fia Papadogianni and
walls that were 2 meters Antonis Danavelos, who
(6 feet) thick, later making also backed a repayment
freeze. “We must not be
safety deposit boxes. afraid. We must prepare
Commander Peter Spindler for an exit from the euro.
on Tuesday defended the They will not expel us but
police performance in the we must be prepared,”
face of the earlier criticism. Papadogianni said to ap-
“At times we’ve been por- plause from the crowd,
trayed as if we have acted packing into a small con-
like Keystone Cops but I ference room.
want to reassure you that in Tsipas’ government is
the finest traditions of Scot- struggling to agree on
land Yard, these detectives a list of reforms creditors
have done their utmost to have demanded in return
bring justice to the victims for bailout money that
of this callous crime,” he Greece needs to avoid
said. q defaulting on debts due
next month. q