A Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) complete today, day 3 May, 112 year old, and to commemorate the anniversary, carries out a set of activities of a military nature, cultural, social and religious.
Rogério COPETO
Colonel of the GNR
Master in Law and Security and Homeland Security Auditor
The celebrations began with the inauguration of the Exposure at the Carmo Barracks, on 18 of April and which will remain open until 20 May, between 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, allowing the visit of the most emblematic spaces of the barracks, like the General Afonso Botelho room (Great Hall) and the office of the General Commander of the GNR, place where the famous meeting between Salgueiro Maia and Marcello Caetano took place, with the consequent transmission of power from Marcello Caetano to General Spínola, as well as the possibility of accessing the panoramic balcony, during weekdays, entre as 16:00 e as 17:00 hours (last entry at 16:30), from where you can witness an excellent view over the city of Lisbon and the Tagus River, You can also visit the GNR Museum, where the temporary exhibition entitled “The Carmo Barracks in the April Revolution” is on display., guided tours must be booked in advance via email museu@gnr.pt.
On Friday, day 26 April, it was the day to remember all the deceased GNR soldiers, with the celebration of a Mass at the Basilica dos Mártires in Lisbon
IS in the day 10 May, the usual Military Parade will take place at Praça do Império, in front of the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon, at 10:45 am, where all the valences of the GNR will be represented, to which the entire population is invited.
The celebrations alluding to the 112th anniversary of the GNR will end with the traditional concert, the Carmo Archaeological Museum, by the GNR Symphonic Band.
A GNR, secular security force, it is a fundamental pillar of the execution of the Internal Security policy and assumes as its deepest values the uncompromising defense of the Democratic Rule of Law and the rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens, established in the Portuguese Constitution and international treaties to which Portugal is part.
Within the security and defense system, the GNR is a security force with a general police mission, comprises about 22 000 military and civilian, with attributions and powers of action throughout the country, assuming direct responsibility for ensuring the safety, peace and public tranquility in 94% the national territory, to more than half of the population residing in Portugal.
to the human dimension, adds the territorial dimension of security, for filling the space between all the population clusters and the surveillance of the extensive Portuguese coastline, which is also the external border of the European Union.
Its Organic Law defines the GNR, as a security force of a military nature, constituted by soldiers organized in a special corps of troops and endowed with administrative autonomy and whose mission is to, in national security and protection systems, ensuring democratic legality, guarantee internal security and citizens' rights, and collaborate in the implementation of the national defense policy, under the Constitution and the Law.
GNR attributions, among others: guarantee security conditions that allow the exercise of rights and freedoms and respect for citizens' guarantees, well as the full functioning of democratic institutions, with respect for legality and the principles of the rule of law; ensure public order and tranquility and the safety and security of people and property; prevent crime in general, in coordination with other security forces and services; protect, help and assist citizens and defend and preserve property that is in danger, caused by human action or nature.
To fulfill its mission and duties, the GNR has a device spread throughout the national territory, larger cells which are referred Units, and the nationwide, Intervention Unit, Safety Unit and State Honors, the Coastal Control Unit, Fiscal Action Unit and the National Traffic Unit, and district level called the Territorial Command (and 20 altogether, 18 no continent, two more in the Autonomous Regions), which are divided into Detachments, which in turn are subdivided into Subdetachments and Posts. All these Units are composed of military and civilian, whose aim is to ensure safety conditions for all citizens, especially the most vulnerable, such as children, the elderly, the disabled and victims of crime, framing its work in a citizen conception of security, because they put the defense of citizens' rights as their first priority.
In this context, the activity carried out by the GNR focuses on the main areas of social exclusion, with high crime rates, that to prevent and combat crime, involves government agencies, municipalities and civil society organizations, with the aim of implementing a set of diversified programs, some of an eminently civil nature to combat social exclusion and others, with a clear police component, which the GNR calls “Special Proximity Policing Programs”.
These Special Programs have as guiding principles the proximity policing model and community security, and apply, seeking close cooperation between the GNR and the various civil society entities, private and public, with the aim of promoting an integrated crime prevention and containment policy, strengthen local partnerships with all agencies, with a view to a more effective approach to the specificity of each community and to foster the responsibility and participation of all citizens.
And the GNR, on the day it celebrates its 112th anniversary, could not be more proud of the work, carried out under the Special Programs, which has been implemented in recent years, namely the “Senior Census” program, which in recent years have contributed to improving the quality of life of thousands of vulnerable people, as is the case of the elderly living alone and isolated, and the disabled, by signaling those, who, for various reasons, spend most of the day alone and/or isolated in their homes without the necessary support or care, being forwarded to GNR partner institutions.
The GNR is thus doubly to be congratulated, first because it celebrates its 112th anniversary and second because it is made up of military, who travel thousands of kilometers on the country's roads every day, ensuring 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, come rain or shine, on days, hours and conditions under which the ordinary citizen is collected in the Hearth, with the mission of guaranteeing security to all Portuguese citizens, especially the most vulnerable, having as a beacon the motto of the GNR: "Humana, Close and reliable".
