Since the beginning of time in Portugal it's cultural roots have been both Gypsy and Arab (Moorish). The word Luso is a FAKE word that was made up in the 13th century to hide the true cultural identity of the Portuguese people. Even in modern times, the country still hides this fact from their youth in school and from the rest of the world.
Today in Portugal, the gypsy population is treated like all refugees, foreigners and blacks from former colonies; with both hostility and xenophobia. In fact, they are still one of the favourite targets of extreme nationalist movements such as the PNR. They are also heavily harassed by the police and looked down by the more fair skinned population in general.
Furthermore, the gypsies are also known as 'Ciganos' or 'Portuciganos' in the bigger cities like Lisbon and Porto; and they survive at society's margins. They are the darker ethnic group that the Portuguese most reject and discriminate against heavily. Despite the fact that they are actually discriminating against themselves since they are in essence rejecting the phenotype from which they came from and the country is heavily comprised of. Bizarre enough, even Portugal's President is a cigano.
Portugal per capita has the highest gypsie population in Europe. Moreover, gypsies are also the object of discriminatory practices from the State. For the gypsies, access to proper and fair employment, housing, and social services is hard to obtain. Most Gypsies live well below the poverty line despite the fact that 50% of the country lives below the poverty line, and have to eat at the Sopas Dos Pobres every day as well. Mario Sequeira (2018)