[ad_1]
The violent death of a black man sparked angry protests in Brazil. People took to the streets in various cities, including São Paulo and the capital Brasilia. The black João Alberto Silveira Freitas was beaten and brutally beaten by two security guards on Thursday night (local time) in front of a supermarket in Porto Alegre, in the south of the country. The 40-year-old man died at the scene of his injuries. A video of the event quickly spread to online networks and Brazilian media.
Protesters in São Paulo marched towards a store belonging to the affected French supermarket chain Carrefour and smashed the window with stones. Then they broke into the store and devastated it, a photographer reported to the AFP news agency. The protesters also went to the Porto Alegre supermarket where the incident occurred. Police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, a local television station reported.
More protests were reported in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro. There, many protesters carried banners reading “Count the lives of blacks,” the slogan of the American anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter. The banners read “Racism is a virus.”
The military police of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in which Porto Alegre is located, published a statement about the crime. According to this, the black man threatened an employee of the Porto Alegre supermarket, who then called the security guard. The 40-year-old man lost consciousness due to the beating of the two guards and died at the scene despite attempts by paramedics to resuscitate him. According to the police, one of the suspects was an off-duty military police officer.
The supermarket operator regretted the incident and promised to support the victim’s family. The chain announced that it would terminate its contract with the security company, suspend the store manager and temporarily close the supermarket.
“For me there is no racism in Brazil”
The act of violence occurred the day before the so-called Black Awareness Day on Friday, which commemorates the contribution of blacks to the culture and identity of Brazil. Brazil’s vice president, Hamilton Mourão, regretted the incident, but denied that Brazil suffered from racism. “For me there is no racism in Brazil,” he said on Friday. “That is something they want to import here in Brazil. That doesn’t exist here. “
Brazil was the last country in the Western world to abolish slavery. To date, there are large inequalities between the black and white populations, representing 56 percent of the total population. On average, black Brazilians earn only half as much as white Brazilians. They also have a shorter life expectancy and, according to human rights activists, are repeated victims of discrimination. Right-wing populist president Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly spoke out as a racist.
