Posts tagged police brutality
Life in the Favela: Public Security Debated in Maré
May 14th
“What is this ‘pacification’ that is coming?” challenged favela residents last Saturday May 11th at a debate on public security in Maré. For weeks, the group of communities has been undergoing daily raids by the BOPE (Special Operations Police Battalion) in a government effort to prepare the area for the installation of the Police Pacifying Units (UPPs). The process includes illegal searches of homes without individual warrants and operations involving helicopters and armored tanks.
“The discourse from the state and from the commercial media [surrounding pacification] is a big lie,” explained Gizele Martins, coordinator and journalist at Maré’s 13-year-old community newspaper O Cidadão. More >
Does Citizenship have a Post Code? Collective Warrants and Illegal Searches in Pre-UPP Maré
May 6th
For the original in Portuguese by Cecília Oliveira on Arma Branca click here.
Does citizenship have a post code? This question may seem absurd for some, yet spot-on for others, and it is what favela residents are repeatedly asking about state powers.
Maré, a group of favelas situated between the Avenida Brasil and Linha Vermelha, two main highways in Rio’s North Zone, has been the target of six police operations in the past month. Residents are experiencing what they call “Pre-UPP Syndrome”, or TPP (Portuguese acronym).
Last Thursday May 2nd, residents of the favelas Parque União and Nova Holanda faced yet another operation, More >
‘O Maraca é Nosso!’ Citizens denied entry to stadium bidding process
Apr 19th
On Thursday morning, April 11th, approximately 400 protesters representing various social and political movements marched from Largo do Machado to the Palácio Guanabara in Laranjeiras to demonstrate against the privatization of Rio’s historic Maracanã stadium. Inside the Palace, envelopes were being opened to determine which companies would be able to compete in the bidding process to administer the Maracanã complex for the next 35 years.
“Today is the day the carioca (Rio native) population takes to the streets and says ‘enough!’…These mega-events, the World Cup and the Olympics cannot violate the rights of the city of Rio de Janeiro! [They] cannot violate More >
‘We’re Young, Black & from the Favela–We Want to Live’
Apr 15th
Following the recent North Zone UPP police killings of 21 year-old Aliélson Nogueira in Jacarezinho on April 4th and 16 year-old Mateus Oliveira Casé in Manguinhos on March 20th, favela residents, NGOs, community organizations and activists are coming together in a series of events to protest the disproportionate assassination of young, black favela residents by agents of the state. Beyond expressing their anger and indignation, the network, that includes the Rio de Janeiro Youth Forum, Forum Social de Manguinhos, Rede Contra Violência, Observatório de Favelas, Ocupa Alemão, Favela Não Se Cale, Apafunk, More >
Assassination in Jacarezinho: An Indignant Neighbor Responds
Apr 7th
For the original text in Portuguese by Léo Lima in Favela em Foco, click here.
On the evening of April 4th 2013, around 9pm, in the area known as Beira do Rio in the favela of Jacarezinho, heavily armed police from the community’s Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) were unable to control the confusion among residents of Pontilhão and lost control of the situation, resulting in the death of Aliélson Nogueira, 21 years old, shot in the back of the neck while eating a hot dog.
Following aggressive stop and search police action on possible suspects of drug trafficking, residents rebelled against the police and–as is More >
