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News > Latin America

Brazil's MST Demands Police Face Punishment over Violence

  • People attend to a demonstrator injured in a violent crackdown by police in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jan. 13, 2016.

    People attend to a demonstrator injured in a violent crackdown by police in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jan. 13, 2016. | Photo: Agencia Brasil

Published 14 January 2016
Opinion

Organizers said that despite the police repression they would not be deterred and would hold more protests against fare hikes in Sao Paulo.

Brazil's largest social movement, the Movement of Landless Rural Workers, known as MST, called for police who participated in a violent crackdown on a peaceful protest in Sao Paulo to face punishment for actions deemed illegal and abusive.

Police violently broke up a peaceful protest against transit fare hikes in Sao Paulo Wednesday, using tear gas, stun grenades, and repressive force. According to the demonstration's organizers, 25 people were injured, including two journalists, and a further 17 were detained.

In a video circulated online, an organizer can be seen negotiating the route of the march with a police official when suddenly an explosion is heard. It would be the first of 49 stun grenades used by the police in the span of only six minutes.

"I do not see any circumstances that would justify launching a bomb every seven seconds so indiscriminately. We understand that even when there is need for the police force, it has to be measured, seeking the safety of the population. There is no justification for what happened yesterday," Camila Marques, a lawyer with the Article 19 human rights group, told Brasil de Fato.

Marques added that Article 19 was investigating the possibility of taking legal action against police for actions she considered “illegal and abusive.”

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Movement of Landless Rural Workers, called for those responsible for the violence to be “identified and punished so events of this nature never happen again.”

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​The violent response by police has led to a wave of criticism against the military police in Brazil, not only for Wednesday's alleged repression but rather for a legacy of violence.

An image widely circulated on social media shows several instances of violence and repression by the military police throughout modern Brazilian history and calls for the institution to be abolished.

Sao Paulo's Chief of Security, Alexandre de Moraes, denied the police committed any abuses and said the Free Fare Movement was to blame for Wednesday's violence for failing to provide police with the route of the march ahead of time.

The police began their crackdown before the march even began.

Marques emphasized that Brazil's constitution guarantees the right to protest and that nowhere does it specify that a route must be provided.

“The constitution only asks that the organization give notice that it will hold an event,” said Marques.

Laura Viana, a member of the Free Fare Movement, said the police’s actions during the demonstrations were “irresponsible and illegal.”

Viana said her organization believes the behavior of police was an attempt to intimidate the protesters. The Free Fare Movement announced that it will hold another demonstration Thursday in Sao Paulo.

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