A Sikh man of Indian descent was brutally attacked on Sunday evening by a gang of neo-Nazis at a motorway service station in Aveiras, while returning from Lisbon to Alpiarça.
The case was reported by a source to Público today, Thursday, 9 October. The victim, 29-year-old Rachhpal Singh, had stopped for a coffee when he found himself surrounded by a group of men wearing T-shirts bearing the insignia of “1143”, a far-right organisation founded by convicted extremist Mário Machado. The men ordered Singh to “go back to your country.”
Singh, who works for a garage and speaks fluent Portuguese, replied: “Go back why? I’m working, I’m legal.” One of the assailants then pulled on his T-shirt, pointed to the number printed on it, and taunted him: “Kiss it, kiss it.” Moments later, the beating began.
“One of them headbutted me and grabbed my shirt. I grabbed his. He kept shouting things,” Singh told Público. “There were about ten of them hitting me until I fell.”
When he got back to his feet, Singh realised his phone had been stolen. As he went to ask about it, another man struck him from behind. “I fell to the ground, and several of them started kicking and punching me while I was down. Then they ran off,” he said.
Witnesses immediately called the GNR (National Republican Guard), which confirmed the incident, describing it as “an alleged situation of assault and theft carried out by a group of individuals, one of whom, according to the victim, was wearing a T-shirt bearing the number 1143.”
Singh, a trained mechanical engineer, later showed photographs of his injuries to journalists, bruises and cuts clearly visible across his face and body. “They attacked me because I’m an immigrant,” he said. “It was racism.” He urged others to report such incidents “so they don’t do the same to more people.”
Eyewitnesses described a scene of chaos: “I saw a commotion and a group of more than 20 men: muscular, tattooed, shaved heads, beating a person on the ground. You could barely see him under the pile of bodies,” one witness said. “Then another man got out of a parked car with a huge club and joined in.”
The witness shouted at the attackers to stop, threatening to call the police. “Just then, a car arrived with a man and a woman who started yelling ‘racists!’ The group began shouting ‘let’s go, let’s go!’ They filled two unmarked grey-blue buses and drove off northwards,” she added. “The Indian man was left with his face smashed, bleeding, his shirt and trousers torn.”
Social media posts linked to Grupo 1143 had announced that members from across Portugal would travel to Lisbon that weekend to celebrate the group’s second anniversary. The assault is believed to have taken place as they were returning from the event.
The neo-Nazi organisation, founded by far-right figure Mário Machado, currently serving a two-year and ten-month prison sentence for discrimination and incitement to hatred, has been linked to a series of violent attacks in recent months. Members were detained following assaults during the 25 April democracy march, and the group is suspected of attacking volunteers distributing food to homeless people in Porto, as well as an antifascist activist in Guimarães back in June.
