Portugal sees surge in racist violence as far right rises

Campaigners call for urgent institutional response after attacks and death threats targeting MPs, academics and activists

Over the summer, Mamadou Ba, the head of an anti-racist organisation in Lisbon, received a letter. Our goal is to kill every foreigner and anti-fascist - and you are among our targets," it read. A few weeks later, it was followed up with a message telling him to leave Portugal or let his family face the consequences. That message was accompanied by a bullet casing.

Ba's experience is one of a growing number of racist incidents perpetrated across Portugal that have led the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) to call for an urgent institutional response".