In the wake of a “barbarous attack” on worshippers in a Canadian mosque, Portugal’s president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has sent a message of solidarity “in the name of the Portuguese people”.
Addressing his words to Canada’s governor general David Johnston, Marcelo said he “vehemently condemned “this barbarous attack that victimised innocents belonging to a specific religious community at a moment when they were in a place of worship”.
The government too has repudiated the horror in which six Muslims were killed and eight wounded – five critically – “defending the fight against all forms of terrorism” because “all attacks are contemptible”, reports Rádio Renascença.
This incident however was “used” in the confusion of the immediate aftermath by a number of sources – even the US White House – to suggest radical Muslims could have been behind it.
According to the Washington Post, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said: “It is a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant and why the president is taking steps to be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to our nation’s safety and security”.
But later it was established that the perpetrator was a “rabid anti-immigrant nationalist”, acting alone, who has been particularly “pro-Trump” in debates with his friends.
The media confusion stemmed from the fact that one of the witnesses to the mass-shooting that happened on Sunday night was a Moroccan who was initially taken into police custody but has since been released.
