Black movement protest against Temer in São Paulo

A protest staged in São Paulo against President Michel Temer to defend women’s and blacks’ rights, especially black women’s rights, was organized by several organizations connected to the black movement. The group assembled in Largo da Batata, in the west zone of the city, shouting chants against Rousseff’s impeachment and calling for "the end of military police."

Luka Franca, representative from São Paulo’s organizing core for the March of Black Women, considered racist a number of decisions taken by Temer and cited the one “to end Health Ministry's sectors that shape health policies for the black population."

Luka noted that there are issues like genocide of black youth, high rate of violence against women, mostly against black women. “For that reason, we thought it was important to note that the coup, beyond the political coup as it happened, it is a racist coup,” said Luka.

Riot and prisons

From Largo da Batata, protesters tried to march, but were stopped by a military police cordon, because, according to the corporation, the route they were following had not been previously informed to the police. At around 9 pm, organizers decided to cancel the march, but some protesters disagreed and walked towards Marginal Pinheiros, which is a section of a highway that runs through São Paulo. On the march, they set fire to rubbish in the middle of the street and even smashed windows of three car dealership stores.

At least four protesters were arrested under charges of damaging public property.

Earlier another man was arrested accused of destroying a police car during the protest against the impeachment staged on Wednesday (Aug. 31). According to São Paulo’s State Secretariat of Public Security, the suspect was identified based on image analysis and information provided by witnesses. Also according to the agency, the man is a fugitive from justice and escaped last year from a prison in Hortolândia, in the countryside of the state.

Injured student

At the same rally, on Wednesday, university student Deborah Fabri suffered an injury, which caused a vision loss in her left eye. However, the secretary of public security, Mágino Alves, said the police operation that repressed the protest that night cannot be held responsible for the injury.

"We do not know if the injury this girl suffered was caused by a bomb released by the military police. The concrete fact is that the girl was injured in the demonstration. We do not know how she suffered this injury," said Alves on Friday.

According to the secretary, the student refused to register a complaint even after being directly contacted by civil police. "Facts will be examined as soon as we collect basic information. Of course, this depends on the victim's statement, for providing further information," he said.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta