Brazilians took to the streets in droves on Friday in various cities out of anger over the death of a black man. João Alberto Silveira Freitas (40) was killed on Thursday evening in the southern city of Porto Alegre after brutal violence by two white supermarket security guards. Freitas was hit in the face by the security guards for minutes.
Images of it incident at a branch of the French supermarket chain Carrefour were distributed on social media. It shows how one of the security guards is holding the man at the exit of the supermarket, while his colleague hits him repeatedly in the face at a rapid pace.
Other images show how a security guard presses his knee on Freitas’s back. The man died shortly after the incident. Both security guards have been arrested on suspicion of murder. One of them was employed by the military police. An argument between Freitas and a cashier may have triggered the incident.
In several large Brazilian cities, protesters stormed Carrefour locations on Friday. They shouted slogans like “Black Lives Matter” and “Don’t shop at Carrefour, you can die”.
While the demonstrations were informal in most places, protests in some towns got out of hand. For example, a Carrefour branch in São Paulo was set on fire and looted. Other branches in Rio de Janeiro, for example, were forced to close after vandalism.
Carrefour terminates contract with security company
The supermarket chain on Friday condemned Freitas’s violent death and said it would terminate the contract with the security company. The manager of the supermarket in Porto Alegre has also been fired.
It is the second time in a short time that a Brazilian branch of Carrefour has been embarrassed. In August, a man died in a facility in the Brazilian city of Recife. Employees of that store covered then the victim’s body behind umbrellas, so that the supermarket could stay open longer.
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In some cities the demonstrations resulted in looting, such as in this supermarket in São Paulo. Looters set fire and destroyed the shop. (Photo: ANP)
Anger at Vice President’s response
Vice President Hamilton Mourão angered protesters on Friday after his response to the incident. He regretted Freitas’ death on Friday, but argued that there was no racism, as the protesters argue. “Racism does not exist in Brazil. That is something they (the protesters, ed.) Want to import here. I lived in the United States, there is racism there.”
The demonstrations coincided with the annual Black Awareness Day, which draws attention to the value of the black community in Brazil. It also looks at the slavery past in the South American country.
According to government statistics, about 57 percent of the population is colored. Yet they make up 74 percent of all victims of violent fatalities. When it comes to deadly police brutality, nearly 80 percent of the victims are colored. In June used to go Brazilians are still taking to the streets for the death of a 14-year-old boy who was killed by police in Rio de Janeiro.
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