In Portugal, on May lst, there was a demonstration by about 3,000 people, mostly students, Although the police deny having opened fire, hospital authorities confirmed that one person, a 44-year old shoe shiner was shot dead and one other person wounded. Previously, on the 28th April, a law student was shot twice, once in the abdomen and once in the shoulder, whilst he was distributing leaflets calling for the demonstration. Six other students have been arrested for the same reason,
In the Beja trial, Manuel Seroa, a catholic workers' leader, complained in court about the treatment he had received at the hands of the PIDE (political police). He was kept awake for 11 days and 11 nights and severely beaten up. For the first 3 months of imprisonment he was kept in an underground cell, in almost complete darkness, He had to remove daily with a bucket the water that had dripped from the walls. Edmundo Serra, also one of the main accused, stated that one of the reasons that had led him to take part in the revolt was the social injustice he found in Portugal. He had been sentenced to 10 years in the concentration camp of Tarrafal in the Cape Verde Islands, the most dreaded prison of all, when he was only 17.