#naovaitercopa #noworldcup SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL: EVEN A TOURIST BECOMES A TERRORIST (my freestyle translation) More than 30 demonstrators were trapped inside a Hotel on Augusta St. (famous for its nightlife and clothes shops) in the heart of São Paulo today. They were kept, as it has become increasingly commom, under the threat of physical violence, moral effect bombs (they are very very loud) and uncanny brutality. The police division responsible for handling demonstrations, The Shock Troop (the same as the one you will see during the World Cup, unless it´s our Armed Forces obviously) is reported to be unprepared to deal with protests - which I disagree, since they are trained, encouraged and charged for this. It all started when, intending to generate fear and disorder, the Shock Troop sieged demonstrators who were going up on Augusta St. towards Paulista Av. (São Paulo´s main avenue). With nowhere to run to, demonstrators were pushed inside the hotel. As the operation´s commanding officer realized he had lost control over the situation, he invaded the hotel´s lobby and without distinguishing between demonstrators and guests again used violence in order to restrain a turmoil which did not exist (I believe that!), against scared people, some who were crouched, including hotel staff, leaving everyone perplexed. A group of voluntary lawyers who has been active for a long time now at São Paulo´s demonstrations called Members of Activist Lawyers tried to give legal counsel to those detained, but were prevented from getting close and follow the frisk, which is against our Constitution and is only another example of the many violations happening here. Photo credit: Wesley Passos
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 02:05:27 +0000
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