A year after the Elevador da Glória tragedy in Lisbon, the victims' families felt again assaulted by the way the Lisbon City Council organized the unveiling of the memorial. The families revealed they had received an invitation mentioning that journalists would not be present, supposedly to protect their privacy.
In an open letter to the media, written in English, the families asked exactly the opposite. They stated that after a year of silence, what they needed was not to be protected from public conversation, but rather to finally be part of it. "For many of us, it seemed that something was wrong," they wrote, highlighting the need to speak.
The Lisbon City Council ended up inviting journalists, even allowing filming of the families. However, it prevented communication professionals from approaching them, creating a physical barrier between the media and the families present at the unveiling.
Journalist Carlos Enes commented on what happened, stating that the booths set up by the Municipal Police violated rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, raising questions about freedom of information at the event.
