MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
“I can't breathe” chant favela residents in Rio protesting crimes committed by police against black people
Protesters chanted, “I can't breathe! I can't breathe!” in reference to George Floyd, the black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota Hundreds of demonstrators converged on the square in front of the Rio de Janeiro state government palace Sunday, protesting crimes committed by the police against black people in the Brazilian city’s poor neighborhoods, known as favelas.
Protesters chanted, “I can't breathe! I can't breathe!” in reference to George Floyd, the black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“We are here today because we want to live. We are here today because we are tired of this genocidal state. We are here to say no more, no more!” activists shouted.
Protesters were holding signs reading in Portuguese “Stop killing us” and “Favela asks for peace.”
As recently as May 18, a 14-year-old black boy was killed during a Federal Police operation in the Complexo Salgueiro favelas.
The teenager, Joao Pedro Pinto, was at home with cousins when police broke into his house, allegedly pursuing drug traffickers, and shot him dead.
The protest in Rio de Janeiro called “Black Lives Matter,” was interrupted when police used tear gas to disperse people.
In 2019 Rio’s police, one of the deadliest law enforcement units in Brazil, killed 1,546 people during police operations. That was the highest number since 1998 in the country, and most of the killings took place in favelas.
Top Comments
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Read all commentsNot surprising that the police is acting as freely as any group of thugs -- they won't risk anything while current president Jair Bolsonaro remains in office.
Jun 03rd, 2020 - 03:57 am 0Has anyone else noticed how a Canadian resident of Latin heritage — continuously viciously criticizes the freely democratically elected presidents of Brazil and Chile yet fails to remain completely silent about the human tragedy occurring in Venezulea.
Jun 03rd, 2020 - 04:22 pm 0And as we are witnessing here in the Americas — the wise progressive liberal governance of New York City, you can understand why some of us value enforcement of laws legislated by the people.
Here is an interesting footnote to the underprivileged natives of our seeking social injustice economic reparation: https://disrn.com/news/nyc-looters-pull-up-in-350000-rolls-royce-to-ransack-store
¡VIVA LA REVOLUTIÓN!
Estimado THINK
Jun 03rd, 2020 - 10:42 pm 0Brilliant answer to a problematic question!
There is strong speculation that he's actually Castro's son...
Anyway, I'm still impressed that RR makes a SUV...
¡Salud!
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