“May prejudice give way to friendship and mutual understanding, animosity to good neighbourliness, distrust to openness to what, in each and every one, is different”, says Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in a message published on the official page of the Presidency of the Republic.

The head of state “highlights the importance of uniting around the goal of a diverse, less unequal and more inclusive Portugal, where we can all aspire to the same opportunities and a more prosperous, fairer and more fraternal future”, says the text.

For Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “in a time of challenges, still marked by the effects of Covid-19, the war in Europe and the deepening of inequalities in Portuguese society and in the world”, it is crucial that the Portuguese focus on what unites them and find “common ground for dialogue and peaceful coexistence”.

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is celebrated annually on March 21.

This day was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on October 26, 1966, in view of the events that took place on March 21, 1960. On that day, police opened fire and killed 69 people in a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against laws that deepened apartheid.