The Portuguese take their flag incredibly seriously. Nonetheless, President Cavaco Silva got away with hoisting it upside down at a state ceremony two years ago. Only just … the PR disaster was ‘investigated’ and later archived. Not so with the art installation of Quarteira student Élsio Menau, now 28.
When he came up with his idea of presenting the country’s flag on the gallows – as a symbol of what was happening to Portugal under the auspices of the troika – his teachers at the University of the Algarve gave him a 17 out of 20 (a good mark, in other words).
The piece went on to be exhibited in a collective show at Loulé’s Convento de Santo António.
But when it hung for a couple of days in an abandoned field near Faro, GNR police were dispatched to weigh in with all the legal muscle at their disposal.
They charged Élsio Menau with abuse of the national flag, and the young man is now facing trial, opening on Monday, June 23 in Faro court.
Reporting on the case, newspapers and news services all carry Menau’s protestations that he never meant to offend his country. “My intention was to show people we have to do something to get away from the gallows,” he said when he was detained in 2012.
“We’re a country in the shadow of the gallows. Looking at it another way, you could say we’re on the brink of leaving the gallows. It all depends on what people choose. There’s still time…”
Lawyer and respected writer Fernando Cabrita is defending Menau free of charge as a wave of solidarity has built up over what many consider the total absurdity of the case.
The maximum sentence for abusing the national flag is three years in jail.
Photo: Instalação Portugal na Forca by Élsio Menau (Facebook)
