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Brazil police use tear gas to quell protest over black man’s beating death

Riot police stand in formation during a protest against racism, after Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas was beaten to death by security guards at a Carrefour supermarket, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on November 23, 2020. (Photo by Reuters)

Police in Brazil have resorted to the use of tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a protest rally against the beating death of a black man by white security guards outside of a supermarket chain store.

The Monday night protest was the latest of several days of rallies in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre after video footage on social media showed security guards at Carrefour Brasil’s branch in the city beating the 40-year-old welder Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas to death.

During the march on Monday, protesters occupied a street and interrupted traffic in front of the Carrefour Brasil’s branch in the city.

Some participants also threw stones and fireworks at police officers, who dispersed the group using tear gas and rubber bullets, according to witnesses.

The killing triggered Black Lives Matter protest rallies in major Brazilian cities on Friday, with hundreds of protesters gathering at the store in Porto Alegre. The demonstration turned into rioting as some protesters engaged in destroying windows and cars and setting fires.

Carrefour Brasil — the local unit of France’s Carrefour supermarket chain — has also faced a wave of boycott calls, drawing comparisons with the killing of African American George Floyd in the United States back in May, which also led to massive protests against police brutality throughout the country.

The killing also led to the tumbling of the company’s share price by six percent during Monday afternoon trading on Brazil’s Bovespa benchmark stock exchange index, marking the biggest loss of the day in the stock market.

A Carrefour Brasil spokesman, however, refused to immediately comment on the sinking of the company’s share price.

The two guards involved in the beating have been arrested. Carrefour Brasil announced that it was taking measures to ensure those responsible for the Thursday night incident were legally punished and that it would further cancel its contract with the company that provided security at the store.

Moreover, Carrefour’s global chairman and CEO Alexandre Bompard asserted on Friday that the images of the beating were “unbearable” while censuring racism and violence. He further said the company had cut ties with the private security firm that supplied the two guards.

Carrefour also vowed to earmark five million dollars to fight racism, saying, “We know that we cannot repair the loss of the life of Mr. Joao Alberto.”

“This action is the first step by our company to combat prejudice and structural racism, which is urgent in Brazil, so that it gains even more strength and support from society,” it further added in a statement.


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