A Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) scheduled next Friday, day 3 May, your 113th birthday, 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 opening of the Carmo Barracks to the public, on 16 of April and which will remain open until 12 May, between 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, allowing visits to the most emblematic spaces of the Barracks, such as the spaces in the Nun’Álvares corridor, balcony over Rossio, 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, and the GNR Museum can also be visited free of charge, where the temporary exhibition entitled “The GNR in 25 of April", associated with permanent exhibition, where emblematic pieces such as the estate of Captain Salgueiro Maia can be seen (with elements of your uniform) and the megaphone he used that day or the armchair where Marcello Caetano waited, no final do dia, the course of events until the transfer of power to General Spínola and before he was removed under arrest from inside the Barracks and transported in the Chaimite “Bula” after the long 14 hours he spent inside the Carmo Barracks.
On 23 April, it was the day to remember all the deceased GNR soldiers, with the celebration of a Mass at the Cathedral of Portalegre, presided over by His Excellency the apostolic administrator of the Armed Forces and Security Forces, D. Rui Valério and next Friday, day 3 May, the usual Military Parade takes place at Praça do Império in Lisbon, where all the valences of the GNR will be represented.
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 and Border 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 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 Proximity Policing Programs” have as their guiding principles the proximity policing model and community safety, 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.
The GNR is therefore to be congratulated for celebrating its 113th anniversary and for being made up of military personnel, who travel thousands of kilometers on the country's roads and streets 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: "Human, Close and trustworthy”.
Note: The text constitutes the exclusive and unique opinion of its author, which only binds to this and do not reflect the opinion or position of the institution where it provides services.
