Two officers from Portugal's Polícia de Segurança Pública were injured on Friday after being attacked with stones and bottles in Oeiras near Lisbon.
The officers were attacked in the Bairro do Pombal neighbourhood at around 6:45 pm while on a regular patrol. One officer was struck in the face and another in the arm, prompting emergency services to transport both to the Hospital de São Francisco Xavier.
A group of several individuals initially confronted the officers with verbal insults and aggressive behaviour, according to Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã. The hostility prompted the officers to call for urgent police reinforcements at the location.
Suspects then threw stones and glass bottles at the officers. Police detained one suspect at the scene following the disturbance.
Second attack in Amadora
Officers from the force faced a second stoning attack later on Friday night in the neighbouring municipality of Amadora. Correio da Manhã reported that projectiles were hurled at police in the Bairro da Cova da Moura neighbourhood, marking the second violent confrontation involving officers in the Lisbon metropolitan area that evening.
Urban policing in Portugal
The Polícia de Segurança Pública, widely known as the PSP, is Portugal's national civilian police force responsible for public order and regular policing in major cities and urban districts. Provincial areas and smaller towns across Portugal are patrolled separately by the Guarda Nacional Republicana, a gendarmerie force.
Oeiras, where the first incident took place, is an urban municipality situated immediately west of Lisbon along the Tagus estuary. The municipality forms part of the Lisbon metropolitan area alongside neighbouring Amadora, a densely populated suburban district northwest of the Portuguese capital.
Both injured officers were taken for treatment to the Hospital de São Francisco Xavier, a major public hospital situated in the Restelo district in western Lisbon that handles emergency care for the capital and its western suburbs.
