To Portuguese People
To the Portuguese people: what is happening? I spent two and a half months outside Portugal, and when I returned, I noticed a change in people’s behavior—more intolerance and negativity. After spending some time on social media, I noticed a growing number of fake stories and targeted campaigns against certain nationalities such as Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalis, and Bangladeshis. Many of these campaigns seem to be fueled by the far-right political party Chega.
I urge Portuguese citizens to think critically before believing everything they see on TV or social media. Don’t let hate-filled content shape your views. Recently, a tragic incident occurred where a Portuguese individual shot at a house simply because Indian nationals were living there—one young Sikh man was killed without any reason.
Even though I may look European, I don’t speak Portuguese fluently. I’ve had many experiences where locals were initially warm and friendly, but once I shared my country of origin, the mood changed instantly—they became distant or stopped the conversation altogether.
From what I’ve observed, many people here tend to believe whatever is shown in the media without questioning it. If this continues, I fear that Portugal could develop a serious problem with racism. I hope we can stop this trend and promote understanding and respect for everyone, regardless of where they come from.
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Comments16
Red Glacier
May 28, 2025
This is happening all across Europe buddy, unfortunately. It’s not “Only in Portugal”
Red Spool
May 28, 2025
The portuguese are a conservative people. It’s normal that resentment for immigrants grows when you quadruple the number of immigrants in a few years. It’s not their fault, it’s from whoever let them in in so many numbers. And the same is happening with Brazilians now. But at least they speak our language and share our religion and they INTEGRATE. Indostanic immigrants don’t integrate, they live and work in their own bubles and don’t even talk portuguese, some not even english.
You’re talking from the perspective of cosmopolitan outsider, but the people that lived here their whole life are seeing real consequences from this influx of immigrants.
I see many people saying that Portugal has the potential to become the California of Europe, but Portugal doesn’t want to be the California of Europe, Portugal wants to be Portugal.
We are not perfect but we are us, we are resistant to change and we don’t want our country overrun by immigrants, even if that means slower growth.
We want our country to grow from the inside, not the outside.
I agree with many of the things said in this website, Portugal needs less beaurocracy and better/faster public services but this I don’t agree. Portugal doesn’t need more immigrants, we have plenty already.
Lavender Goat
May 29, 2025
Across Europe, immigration has been a shared experience — and it’s important to remember that many Portuguese people themselves have emigrated to other countries in large numbers. For example, in Luxembourg, more than 15% of the population is Portuguese. In France, hundreds of thousands of Portuguese citizens live and work. I’ve personally spoken to many of them, and they’ve shared stories about the racism and discrimination they face from local people. Despite that, they’ve integrated, worked hard, raised families, and contributed positively to society — even while facing serious challenges.
What’s more, these migrations happened within Europe, where people largely share the same religion and similar cultures. And honestly, religion plays a much smaller role in modern Europe today. Still, the Portuguese managed to integrate over time, just as others are trying to do now in Portugal.
Many people here mention Portugal's 900-year history and deep cultural roots. That is something to be proud of. But it’s also important to acknowledge history fully. The reason we see more Brazilians, Africans (including Angolans), and South Asians (like Indians) coming to Portugal today is connected to the past — when Portugal colonized and ruled over those regions. There was war, exploitation, and immense suffering under colonial rule. So now, generations later, when opportunities opened up in Portugal, many people from those former colonies came here — not out of choice, but often out of necessity, fleeing poverty, instability, or lack of opportunities left behind by that same history.
Personally, I love Portuguese culture, food, and the warmth of the people. I’ve experienced so much kindness. But one issue I have noticed is a tendency to blame entire communities or nationalities when something goes wrong. It’s unfair and dangerous to generalize — just as it would be wrong when French, German, or British people unfairly blame Portuguese immigrants for problems in their countries. Sadly, that does happen — and it hurts.
Lastly, immigration is a natural and ongoing process. I understand that this sudden wave of newcomers has been hard to adjust to. Change is never easy. But I genuinely believe that with time, things will settle. The Portuguese people are resilient, and I hope more mutual understanding will grow with time.
Sapphire Shuttle
May 28, 2025
This looks like a fake story. Doesn't make sense to refer to something that happened a long time ago and ignore the raping, assaults, gang fighting and drug dealing that happens in Martim Moniz by the people mentioned on the story.
Violet Highlighter
May 28, 2025
I think this is a worldwide problem…. Also in Germany I feel this. Portugal had massive influx of Indians and other scammers so it’s understandable honestly
Gray Crater
May 28, 2025
It’s not hate-filled content that’s shaping anyone’s views. It’s people having to deal with these things in reality.
Portugal more than quadrupled the amount of immigrants in a time frame of 7 years. Do you think that’s normal? Do you think that doesn’t make any impact?
We’re a small country, did you know that if we kept the rate of immigration we were having, we would double the population of the country in just 13 years? Do you think that’s normal and wouldn’t have any impact?
It is the critical thinking people that are getting revolted, and no amount of gaslighting (and trust me, they try really hard to gaslight people) will change the reality that we live in.
As a Portuguese person, this country is no longer the country I grew up in, to the point I’m considering leaving myself if things don’t get better in the foreseeable future, something that had never crossed my mind before.
It just baffles me that people think you can completely change the demographics of a country to a point it becomes unrecognizable, and things are supposed to just go on like nothing happened, and then act as if the locals should have nothing to say about it.
Well we do. People are not mere economic units that can be shifted around with no consequence, people have values and cultures that make up who they are, how they get along with each other and how they treat the world around them. Bringing in millions of foreigners from extremely distinct cultures and values, without considering the cultural impact, was extremely irresponsible and borderline traitorous, and we’re living with the consequences of it.
We’re experiencing waves of crime completely unheard of in Portugal up until recently. It’s truly a mystery who is committing them!
Why don’t you make a google search about Manu, and the amount of girls that have been molested in Martim Moniz just this year alone? Funny how you didn’t mention those instances in your post, because it doesn’t fit your narrative.
If you want anyone to blame, don’t blame the Portuguese people, blame the socialist government that brought this crisis upon us, and provoked this reaction.
If you respect and like our country, then you need to realize that our country is not just some piece of land in western Europe. It’s a shared culture and a shared set of values of a people with a history that goes back 900 years. If you can’t accept that, then you don’t like Portugal. You just see it as a place with nice beaches.
Rose Exoplanet
May 28, 2025
It’s happening all over Europe. Remigration is coming, “slowly” but surely, search for it. And it’s likely too late to change the course now.
It seems that those who choose to go back to their countries now are the ones who will have made the best choice since they’re leaving while they can take most of what they’ve earned with them, without risking future exit taxes that could be imposed on departing non-European foreigners, etc.