Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Brazilian police brutality sparks ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests
Issued on: 22/07/2020 -

Joao Pedro was killed in a police operation while playing with his cousins. He was 14. © France 24
Text by:FRANCE 24Follow

Brazil has its own "Black lives Matter" movement with protesters addressing structural racism in a country dominated by a class discourse. Police crackdowns killed 6,000 people in 2019, five times more than in the US, forcing Brazilians to confront the brutality of law enforcement officers as well as the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed more than 77,000 people.

Braving the ban on public gatherings due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a few hundred people took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro a few weeks ago to denounce police brutality in the Brazilian city’s favelas.

Rio saw a rise in police violence in these poor neighbourhoods. Nearly five people were killed by police every day in the first five months of this year, a record last seen 22 years ago.

To view the report by Laura Damase, click on the video player 

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