Lisbon, Portugal - January 20, 2025 The mayor of Lisbon, conservative Carlos Moedas, warned Monday that increasingly violent crimes are occurring in the city, after the rape of an Italian student early Sunday morning in the area of Martim Moniz square, in the center of the capital. The mayor was asked about the installation of surveillance cameras in that area after the aggression, during the presentation at the Fado Museum of the program of activities to commemorate the centenary of the birth of guitarist Carlos Paredes (1925-2004). Camera: CARLOS CASELLES. SOUNDBITES OF THE MAYOR OF LISBON, THE CONSERVATIVE CARLOS MOEDAS. “If there is someone who, from day one warned, that from the first day that I am president of the [Lisbon Municipal] Chamber I felt, not only that perception, but also the increase in the way some crimes are perpetrated in Lisbon. And that is numerically demonstrating that there is greater violence in the commission of crimes. I am not talking about more crimes, I am talking about how they are practiced. If there is a president of the [Lisbon Municipal] Chamber who from day one warned that in 2010 we had 8,000 national police officers in Lisbon and today we only have 6,700, and that this is a problem for the city, and that it is important for people.” “That some [people] in certain parts of the city are afraid to leave the house obviously is for me a concern, and I will continue to fight to have more police in Lisbon.” “Video protection is a big project that Lisbon City Hall is doing for the national police. There are more than 240 cameras that we are going to have in the city. The City Hall is working for the national police, for the Ministry of Interior. We started and we are prioritizing Cais do Sodré and Campo das Cebolas, 62 cameras that we are installing at the moment. But obviously if the national police, because they are the ones who know, who work in security, if they tell us to go to Martim Moniz, it is not for nothing that we are putting 240 [cameras] in the city. But that is an evaluation that does not correspond to the mayor. Those who make these kinds of assessments are the police and the Ministry of the Interior.” [Restrictions: Spain, Latin America, or the U.S. Hispanic market]