Direção-Geral de Segurança
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| State level | Direcção-Geral de Segurança | ||
| Position of the authority | Secret police | ||
| Supervisory authority (s) | Ministério da Administração Interna | ||
| Consist | since November 24, 1969 | ||
| Headquarters | Rua António Maria Cardoso 18-26, Lisbon | ||
The Direção-Geral de Segurança (DGS) ( German General Directorate for Security ) was the secret police of the Estado Novo dictatorship in Portugal from 1969 to 1975 .
The DGS was founded on November 24, 1969. It emerged from the notorious Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado (PIDE) , which was dissolved on September 24, 1969 .
When the Carnation Revolution broke out in Portugal on April 25, 1974 , the DGS commander wanted to offer armed resistance. Members of the DGS shot out the window of their headquarters into the crowd. Four people died and 45 were injured. A DGS agent was killed while fleeing. They were the only victims of the otherwise peaceful revolution. On the facade of the former headquarters of the DGS at the Convento do Carmo there is now a memorial plaque for those who were shot here.
Many members of the DGS fled to Spain . Others, such as the general manager Silva Pais, were arrested. 89 agents managed to escape from prison in a mass escape in June 1975. Although the DGS was officially dissolved in 1974 , the DGS was still active in the Portuguese colonies until 1975 as Polícia de Informações Militares .
