Portugal marks 50 years of democracy with far right on rise
Portugal marks Thursday 50 years since a military coup ended a decades-long dictatorship and 13 years of colonial wars in Africa, an anniversary that comes as a far-right party gains prominence.
The anniversary of the Carnation Revolution -- named after the flowers protesters placed in soldiers' guns during the peaceful uprising -- comes a month after the far-right party Chega more than quadrupled its seats in parliament, cementing its position as Portugal's third-largest party.
The highlight of the celebrations will be a military parade through central Lisbon featuring some of the roughly 5,000 soldiers who were part of the putsch, as well as around 15 restored military vehicles used on the day.
On April 25, 1974, the oldest authoritarian regime in Western Europe at the time fell within a matter of hours, virtually without bloodshed, thanks to an uprising by non-commissioned officers that was immediately backed by the public.
The coup paved the way for the country's first free elections based on universal suffrage on April 25, 1975, as well as the independence of Portugal's remaining African colonies: Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde.
"The main motivation was to resolve the problem of the colonial wars" that had been going on for 13 years in Angola, and almost as long in Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, said retired colonel Vasco Lourenco.
Lourenco, one of the officers who took part in the coup, now heads the April 25 Association that represents putschist soldiers.
As a young officer, he said it took almost a year to put together the "conspiracy" to carry out "a coup d'etat aimed at opening the way to freedom, putting an end to the wars and building democracy in Portugal", he told AFP.
