BRAZIL-VIOLENCE/SAO PAULO Black body bags laid on the pavement in protest over Sao Paulo massacre

Record ID: 142150

  • Title: BRAZIL-VIOLENCE/SAO PAULO Black body bags laid on the pavement in protest over Sao Paulo massacre
  • Date: 28th August 2015
  • Summary: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (AUGUST 28, 2015) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING PAST BODY BAGS CARS DRIVING PAST BLACK BODY BAGS LAID OUT ON THE GROUND ON SAO PAULO'S CENTRAL AVENUE IN AN NGO PROTEST OVER A RECENT MASSACRE BLACK BODY BAGS ON THE PAVEMENT PEOPLE AND VEHICLES PASSING BODY BAGS PROTESTERS WITH GAGS OVER THEIR MOUTHS HOLDING A SIGN READING (IN PORTUGUESE): "WHO KILLED 19?" VARIOUS CLOSE-UPS OF PROTESTERS WITH THEIR MOUTHS COVERED CYCLISTS AND VEHICLES PASSING THE PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PROTEST ORGANISER, FERNANDA VALIM MARTOS, SAYING: "We do not want this to be just another case, we want people who pass by or see this in the news put pressure (on the authorities). This cannot be just another case, we cannot accept that. It is an assault on life and an assault on democracy. How can it be that groups like this take action freely and we have no response? Today, it was them (who died), tomorrow who will it be? Me? You?" VARIOUS OF BLACK BODY BAGS ON THE PAVEMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PENSIONER, ANTONIO DE SOUZA, SAYING: "We are forsaken by the authorities, by the law." VEHICLES PASSING
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1SP8VY75YOUG5ZLHDWHPHO78G
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Black body bags were laid on the pavement of one of Sao Paulo's main avenues on Friday (August 28) in a graphic protest over a recent massacre throughout the state on August 13 which left 19 people dead in the space of two and a half hours.
    The Rio de Janeiro based NGO, Rio for Peace, turned heads with the chilling sight of 19 body bags laid out across the daily route for workers, runners and drivers on Paulista Avenue, in the centre of Brazil's largest city.
    Gagged protesters stood on the side of the street with signs reading "Who killed 19?", imploring citizens to put pressure on authorities to find and punish the killers of Osasco-Barueri massacre, as the attack has come to be known, and to ensure better public security.
    "We do not want this to be just another case, we want people who pass by or see this in the news put pressure (on the authorities). This cannot be just another case, we cannot accept that. It is an assault on life and an assault on democracy. How can it be that groups like this take action freely and we have no response? Today it was them (who died), tomorrow who will it be? Me? You?," said protest organiser, Fernanda Valim Martos.
    The 19th victim of the attacks, 15-year-old Leticia Vieira Hillebrand da Silva, died in hospital on Thursday morning due to an infection which developed after she was shot in the abdomen. Da Silva was buried in the Parque do Jaragua Cemetery on the same day with approximately 150 people attending the funeral.
    The number of victims was originally reported as 20, but authorities later confirmed da Silva as the 19th.
    One of the hypotheses under investigation is that the massacre was a revenge attack for the death of a military police officer in a gas station one week earlier.
    23 suspects are being investigated, including 18 Military Police officers, four Civilian Guards and a security official thought to be the husband of one of the police officials under investigation from Osasco.
    "We are forsaken by the authorities, by the law," said pensioner Antonio de Souza, as he passed by the body bags laid alongside Paulista Avenue on Friday.
    The first attack on August 13 took place at 8:49 p.m. (2349 G.M.T) in a crowded bar where one person died close to the pavement and three inside the bar. Witnesses said the criminals shot at the crowd from their cars and motorbikes, then got off and beat people indiscriminately.
    Another attack took place outside an ice-cream parlour, in a similar drive-by fashion. The same vehicles were recorded by security cameras and reported by witnesses to have passed through several of the spots where the crimes took place.
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