LISBON: Thousands took to Lisbon`s streets on Saturday to protest against police use offorce and racism, following a week of unrest sparked by the shooting of a black man by officers.

Chanting `No peace without justice` and `Police violence, colonial heritage`, the demonstrators marched peacefully on the Portuguese capital`s central avenue, brandishing placards with messages including `Racism kills` and `Black lives matter`. Urban violence is rare in Portugal.

But in the last week several down-at-heel neighbourhoods with large immigrant communities have seen clashes following the killing on Sunday night of a 43-year-old man from Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony in Africa.

Police said that Odair Moniz was shot dead while trying to escape after attacking officers with a knife. That account has since been called into question by several reports in the press. The 20-year-old police officer who shot Moniz twice has since been charged with manslaughter, Portuguese media reported.

`Odair was a good father, someone who was appreciated by his whole community,` Luis Gomes, a 30-yearold at the protest who lives in the same neighbourhood as Moniz said.

`We don`t judge people by the colour of their skin. I know it`s not easy for the police, but they need to be better prepared. No one has the right to kill anyone, added Gomez, who works as a private security guard.

Jose Rosa, a 58-year-old from Cape Verde who has lived in Portugal since childhood, said he was `saddened by all this`. `This is not the first time one of our young people has been killed and there is no justice, he said, while adding that he regretted the past week`s violence.

Portugal`s far-right Chega party, which made fresh gains in March`s parliamentary elections, had called for a counter-demonstration in solidarity with the police for Saturday. That drew a crowd of around 200, according to the media.-AFP