Two movies of police violence go viral in Brazil and spark a brand new controversy | EUROtoday

Every at times, a video that exposes police violence or a baby who dies from a stray bullet in Brazil ignites controversy and locations the deal with the actions of the safety forces, that are among the many most deadly on the planet. This week it occurred once more when two brutal movies have been launched: one reveals a plainclothes police officer taking pictures a thief within the again in a grocery retailer; In the opposite, a uniformed man throws a suspect off a bridge. The second sufferer survived. Although the governor of São Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, a retired army man and Bolsonaro supporter, has criticized the brokers concerned, criticism is intensifying, accusing him of getting supported a local weather of impunity. Statistics are cussed. The police have been accountable for one in 4 violent deaths that occurred in 2024 within the State of São Paulo, in keeping with knowledge collected by Bridge Journalism.

Latin America is essentially the most violent area on the planet by far. And among the many many causes—from drug trafficking to the weak spot of establishments or a younger inhabitants—there’s additionally police lethality. Especially in Venezuela and Brazil.

The latter nation has allowed a trigger-happy tradition to flourish amongst safety forces in current a long time, a tradition inspired by impunity. It is a widespread phenomenon, though with essential regional variations. Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and, far away, São Paulo are inclined to prime the police fatality charge.

The most up-to-date controversy has São Paulo as its epicenter. Strikingly, the case that has generated the best media impression is that of the suspect who was thrown off a bridge on Monday by a army police officer. He managed to outlive and what occurred hit the media because of a video recorded by a witness. The 13 brokers concerned within the operation have been faraway from their duties and the one who pushed him to fall right into a stream was arrested this Thursday because of the scandal. The attacked individual was on a motorbike who ignored the order to cease and was chased. Perhaps it has brought on extra of a stir because of the novelty of the aggression.

More critical have been the results for the twenty-something black man who stole 4 packages of detergent from a retailer and slipped whereas fleeing. The recording from the institution’s safety digital camera reveals how the white buyer, who’s paying on the register, sees him run, reaches for his waist, pulls out a gun and shoots him within the again. Eleven bullets hit him. He was a plainclothes police officer. When questioned, he claimed that he acted in self-defense as a result of he suspected that the robber was armed. A traditional argument in the sort of occasions, extra widespread than that of the bridge.

Regarding that case, the governor of São Paulo mentioned: “Whoever throws someone off a bridge is not fit to wear the uniform of the institution.” His Secretary of Public Security, a army police captain with a repute for toughness, Guilherme Derrite, criticized the brokers concerned saying that “a police officer does not shoot in the back in a robbery without a threat to his life, nor does he throw anyone over. of a wall.” Throughout his profession, Derrite was investigated for 16 homicides with out ever being charged, in keeping with the journal Piauí. For the pinnacle of the police pressure “it was an emotional mistake, almost a childish thing for which he is going to be judged,” he declared to Folha de S.Paulo.

The São Paulo governor tries to maintain his distance from his political mentor, former president Jair Bolsonaro, with out confronting his followers. This Wednesday he introduced that he’s conserving the secretary of public safety in his place regardless of these and different current circumstances of police violence. “Look at the numbers,” mentioned De Freitas, emphasizing the lower in murders (-3%), robberies (-14%) and thefts (-4%). A proven fact that has not been talked about, however the statistics do reveal, is that in 2024 one among each 4 folks murdered within the state was a sufferer of the police, 676 of the greater than 1,800 victims. A frequent charge in Rio, the place the usage of cameras by the police brought on fatality to plummet a lot that deaths typically fell.

In the final 12 months, police violence in São Paulo has elevated and controversial circumstances are multiplying. A police operation that lasted a number of weeks in Santos brought on greater than fifty deaths, a baby later died after being hit by a stray bullet – one thing widespread in Rio, however not in São Paulo -, a medical pupil who was later shot by an officer that, in keeping with the official model, he hit the rearview mirror of the police patrol once they tried to method him and have become aggressive, and so forth. In current hours, new movies have been coming to gentle displaying new abuses.