Brazil BLM: Protests erupted after Black man beaten to death at store

By Special To The Black Star News

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40-year-old welder Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas repeatedly being punched in the face and head by a security guard while he is b

[Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas]
CTGN: A video taken Thursday night in the southern city showed 40-year-old welder Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas repeatedly being punched in the face and head by a security guard while he is being restrained by another at a Carrefour store.”
Photo: YouTube

Protests have lasted for three days outside the Carrefour Brasil supermarket in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre after the security guards beat to death a Black man at the store.

Rio de Janeiro protesters carried banners reading “Murderous Carrefour” and “Black Lives Matter,” using the slogan prominent in the United States during demonstrations against police brutality that led to the killing of minorities.

A video taken Thursday night in the southern city showed 40-year-old welder Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas repeatedly being punched in the face and head by a security guard while he is being restrained by another at a Carrefour store.

At least on of the security guards who beat Freitas to death was reported to be an off-duty police officer. Freitas died on the eve of Brazil’s Black Consciousness Day celebrated on November 20th.

The clip quickly went viral on social media, and triggered a first round of demonstrations on Friday.

In Sao Paulo, dozens of protesters smashed the front windows of a Carrefour store with rocks, pulled off the front doors and stormed the building, spilling products into the aisles before dispersing.

In Rio de Janeiro, roughly 200 shouting protesters gathered outside of another Carrefour store.

More protests were held on Saturday, when Silveira Freitas was buried.

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