The murder of Sidónio Pais - Lisboa, Portugal - Infamous Crime Scenes on Waymarking.com

Sidónio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais (Caminha, May 1, 1872 - Lisbon, 14 December 1918) was a military and political that, among other functions, perform the duties of deputy minister of Development, the Minister of Finance, ambassador of Portugal in Berlin and President of the Portuguese Republic.

As president, he served as dictatorial, suspending and changing by decree, some basic standards of the Portuguese Constitution of 1911, which is why he was known as the President-King.

These changes gave the regime a clear presidential feature, revising the electoral law, the established laws on the separation of Church and State and the actual distribution of power between the organs of state sovereignty.

However, in April 1918 the forces of the Corpo Expedicionário Português are slaughtered at the Battle of La Lys, without the Portuguese government to get the necessary reinforcements or to maintain a regular supply of troops. The situation reached such an extreme that after the armistice that marked the end of the war, the Portuguese state was not immediately able to bring their forces back to the country. The social protest in the country increased to the point of living in a constant state of upheaval.

This was the end of the state of grace, succeeded by strikes, disputes and conspiratorial movements. From the summer of 1918 the attempts to end the regime of Sidónio escalated in severity and violence, which led the President to declare a state of siege on 13 October that year. With that act, and hardness of the repression of opponents, temporarily succeeded in regaining control of the political situation, but his regime was clearly wounded to death.

After that starts a spiral of violence that does not spare the President himself: in December 5, 1918, during the award ceremony of the survivors of NRP Augusto de Castilho, suffered a first attack, which managed to escape unscathed, the same did not happen days later, the Rossio Station, where the 14 December 1918 was shot by José Julio da Costa, a Republican activist.

After dinner at the restaurant Silva, located at the Chiado, José Julio da Costa went to the Rossio Station, where he awaited the arrival of the President who was to go to Porto in an attempt to solve the problems posed by military. When Sidónio Pais was preparing to embark on the first-floor of the station, José Júlio Costa has stuck the double and compact police cordon to protect him, while firing a gun. The first projectile stayed with the right arm of the President, and the second, fatally, in the womb, causing the victim immediately fell to the ground.

Despite the enormous confusion that immediately set in, and which resulted in four deaths, did not try to escape, he let himself be captured.

The murder of Sidónio Pais was a traumatic moment for the First Republic, marking its destination: then from any semblance of stability vanished, settling a permanent crisis that only ended after almost eight years with the National Revolution of 28 May 1926 which ended the regime.

-- Source 1 and Source 2

Date of crime: 12/14/1918 Public access allowed: yes Fee required: no Web site: [Web Link]

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