Over 30 journalists and bloggers have been murdered in Brazil since 1992, making it a dangerous place for those who speak out against local corruption – especially in the country’s remoter regions. And a culture of impunity means the killers are rarely brought to justice. By James Young Belo Horizonte In a country like Brazil, where there(…)
Arquivo - Tag: Police
Fear, loathing and vigilantes on Rio’s beaches
A weekend of mob robberies on Rio’s beaches saw some Zona Sul residents attempt to take the law into their own hands. But the “crime mobs”, the vigilantes, and the social divisions that underpin them are nothing new, as James Young explains. By James Young Belo Horizonte Despite the start of the summer season and the giant Rock in(…)
Demilitarizing Brazil’s violent police
One officer speaks out about death squads and a public backlash against a police system they know is broken. Above, the Folha cover photo which helped to spur on Brazil’s June protests. Of all the complex and sometimes contradictory consequences of the demonstrations in Brazil since June, the clearest lesson may have been that the(…)
Belo Horizonte, June 26 – Bizarre scene, blurry photos
I was at the Brazil-Uruguay game on Wednesday, which was surrounded by protests marked by an especially large amount of property destruction and clashes with police. I left the game, and walked past a line of Police Shock Troops (I was wearing a big Fifa press badge, so they let me) into a bizarre world.(…)
São Paulo protests – what do they mean?
Brazil-watchers have all seen that protests exploded into violence last night, and that the police handled the situation horribly and perhaps even maliciously, over-reacting, letting the situation get out of control, and committing shocking acts of violence. None of that is actually in dispute anymore. Claire Rigby described the tension and fear last night excellently(…)
Fear and loathing in São Paulo
Claire Rigby describes the nightmare scenes she lived through in last night’s protest, as well as a society grappling with the idea of protest itself. Above, Folha’s own Giuliana Vallone, shot in the face with a rubber bullet. By Claire Rigby I took my press card to the demonstration in São Paulo last night, seeing a(…)
Blue murder: São Paulo police accused of massacres
Death squads within São Paulo’s military police are widely suspected of mass killings and extra-judicial executions in poor neighborhoods on the city’s outskirts. Above, police inspect the scene of a bloodbath in Jardim Rosana that six of their colleagues are now accused of carrying out. By Claire Rigby With a grim tally of almost 100(…)
Back to work for Carnival
Ideally, police are the solution to the problem, not the cause. But for the last week, most attention here in Brazil has been focused on police strikes that probably led to a number of deaths and at one point seemed to threaten the country’s extremely important Carnival celebrations. It now looks like things will more(…)
