I just got home after wandering around the streets near my home and I have to say that of all the thousands of nights I’ve spent in Brazil, this was one of the more remarkable.
Not just because there are police helicopters overhead in my normally gentile neighbourhood. Not just because the main roads are blocked with burning rubbish. And not even because there is tear gas in the air and periodic bangs caused by the police firing off shock bombs and rubber bullets.
Still from Globonews coverage of the protests
It’s all that. But what I really can’t believe is Why? Or rather How. How did things get so bad so fast? How did the state and municipal governments, and most importantly the police, let it get to this?
This is a protest over a small hike in bus fares that went into effect a week ago.
I won’t go into the rights or wrongs of the fare rise – from 3.00 reais to 3.20 reais – as I don’t know enough about it. (Although I will say that protesters demanding free public transport for all are living in cloud cuckoo land.)
But what has become crystal clear tonight, even through the haze of tear gas, is that the Sao Paulo government has once again overreacted with a breathtaking brutality and incompetence. They never learn.
The police are military police and therein lies one of the main problems. Historically unprepared to deal with dissent and opposition and untrained to meet the demands of a democratic society, their first response is to reach for their batons or their guns.
I won’t get into any of the other cases in which Sao Paulo police officers have been accused of brutal overreaction. (But here’s three links to cases where they are accused of murder, here, here and here.)
The fact is that with a modicum of common sense and leadership from state and municipal authorities, tonight’s protest would probably have passed fairly peacefully.
The overwhelming majority of protesters were non-violent. They even chanted “Sem Violencia!” (No Violence!) But even if there were a few troublemakers (and that’s not unlikely) it wouldn’t justify such a heavy handed response.
Basic common sense dictates that unless protests are violent you sheperd protesters away from sensitive areas. You let them have their say and then wait for them to go home. You don’t send in the riot police, the cavalry, and fire tear gas and rubber bullets at unarmed students.
What are these people thinking? Who was giving the orders? And perhaps most importantly, will they learn from their mistakes?
I am not holding my breath….
ANDREW DOWNIE'S BRAZIL BLOG 
13 comments
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June 14, 2013 at 1:18 am
Eduardo Souza
Mr. Downie, i do not know what you do, or for how long you have been in Brazil, or how knowledgeable of our history you actually are. please understand i am not at all against the manifestations, but they are not what they first seem — rare things actually are.
i’ll feed you two facts; if you are a reporter, i’m quite sure you will figure out the rest for yourself:
• the manifestations occur when both the mayor and the governor are absent;
• groups organizing the riots are known to be attached to municipal transportation syndicates (or unions) — which, by their turn, are controlled by the PCC.
i wish you a good evening, sir.
June 14, 2013 at 1:24 am
andrewdownie
Eduardo,
You make a very interesting point. I chaired a panel about Urban Security last week at the New Cities Summit in SP.
One of the participants was (is) a Paulista researcher of urban violence. She tied the recent uptick in crime, seemingly random acts of violence aimed at the middle class, to organised crime groups. They are, she argued, trying to create a climate of instability. Very successfully, it seems.
Thanks for the comment. Fire away with more details….
Cheers, Andrew
June 14, 2013 at 11:55 am
Samer
Hi Andrew, what is the name of the researcher? Do you know if she has written something about this?
Best,
Samer
June 14, 2013 at 3:25 am
Pedro Freitas
Eduardo Souza,
Eu tenho nojo de pessoas como você. Tome vergonha na sua cara!
As manifestações aconteceram imediatamente após o aumento e estavam marcadas há semanas. Se o prefeito e o governador estavam fora, isso não foi nenhum fator de relevância. Não entendo também qual é o problema de os protestos ocorrerem enquanto os governantes estavam ausentes.
O seu segundo ponto é de um absurdo sem tamanho. Estudantes secundaristas de escolas conhecidas de São Paulo, estudantes universitários e jornalistas independentes são os principais líderes do Movimento Passe Livre, que não tem NENHUMA ligação com sindicatos ou com o PCC. E olha que eu tenho muitos problemas com o MPL, mas escrever o que você falou, é de uma irresponsabilidade lamentável.
Vá para o próximo ato. Segunda-feira, 17/06.
Pedro Freitas
June 14, 2013 at 9:05 am
andrewdownie
Calma Pedro,
Todo mundo tem direito de opinar, se faz com educacao. Respeitar o outro punto de vista ‘e parte fundamental de democracia.
Nesse blog, pretendo continuar ouvindo todos, includindo voce e includindo Eduardo So keep posting…
Ab, Andrew
June 14, 2013 at 11:52 am
Protests and Police Violence in São Paulo | Americas South and North
[…] of Security can insist that the government will look into the use of police force, but given the long history police violence and impunity for police and neglecting the socioeconomic inequalities in São Paulo, it’s difficult to imagine there […]
June 15, 2013 at 1:26 am
Gabriel Almeida
Dear Andrew,
I got through here by twitter, found your article really interesting, and just checked the comments. I am a brazilian too, so I make my point that the way the government handle things, and the way police acts at these protests is way too bad. Too bad that more and more I’m becoming disgusted with the way politics treat the already bad socioeconomics questions that we face each day.
So here’s my opinion about the current notice: police is woefully wrong in how they responded to the protest, which is not a surprise. I will not make heavily used phrases, like they act on favor of politicians and enterprises, but if you look at many other examples of protests and manifestations that happened in Brazil, there is a lot of unjustified violence coming from the police, to the point that recently, in Salvador – Bahia, the shock troops entered already firing at medicine students of a particular university because of a protest they’ve made by blocking a nearby avenue.
But I don’t find manifestations nice here because of 2 problems: the criminals and the media. The criminals because I don’t agree with some vandalization acts, that you can see it is happening too. Is it happening in response to the police? I believe so, but so is because of bad-intentioned people that take advantage of these situations to spread chaos and destruction.
And since the media tries to make the biggest news out of the fact, and I don’t trust media fully, it brings a bad reputation to the good folks that are just wishing to be heard and responded, and makes their cause go ablaze because of these bandits that, disguised as protesters, destroy buses and buildings, spreading terror and just making the police act more violently.
I wish you good since you’re staying near a firezone right now, and this is my humble opinion, not the truth, but a view from someone that wants this country better. After all, we’re going to have a World cup and Olympics soon, and I don’t want my country bad spoken, even though I believe it’ll probably be.
Cheers, Gabriel.
June 15, 2013 at 10:57 am
andrewdownie
Wise words Gabriel. Thanks for posting. Monday sure is going to be interesting!
Cheers, Andrew
June 15, 2013 at 10:29 am
Rafael Lopes
Eduardo, from where did you get your facts? Please share some sources otherwise I call nonsense on your affirmations. By the way, to make false accusations of crime association to some individual or group is also a crime by the Brazilian law.
Mr Downie, from an american point of view a free health care system was like cloud cukkoo land idea. In Brazil, we have this system as a given right and it works just fine.
The money that would be expended to stop the fare rises is only 1/4 of the amount needed to make the public transport free.
June 15, 2013 at 10:59 am
andrewdownie
Rafael,
How many countries in the world give free public transport to all? None that I know of.
Also, I’m not American. I’m Scottish.
I appreciate your posts and the opinions. Keep reading and making your voice heard!
Cheers, Andrew
June 15, 2013 at 10:30 pm
Marcos
It’s such a big coincidence that so many protests are occuring at almost the same time and so near a pre-electoral year! The bus fare protest may have a lot of idealist (and naive) middle class teenagers. But you must pay attention that there a lot of flags of radical left wing political parties: PCO, PSOL, PSTU and UNE (under the control of PC do B). PT used to be one of them, now they are trying to fill the gap. You have to see the big political chessboard now. Unfortunately, those kids are just pawns in the game, It’s not about the bus fare or standing for the poor. It’s just politics, as usual.
June 18, 2013 at 5:53 am
Mari
It does not matter if it´s a big coincidence, or if it´s naivety, or if the governor and mayor were absent …the bottom line is people are waking up!
Public transportation in SP for 3 reais? It´s not only about the price. It´s about what you kind of service you get for this money – RUBBISH service !!!!
Brazilians are finally embracing their roles in democracy…it´s just too bad that the government and police still seem to be stuck in the military dictatorship…
June 18, 2013 at 10:20 am
andrewdownie
Exactly Mari,
The bottom line is that people are waking up. And again, you’re right that it is not about the price, it’s about what you get for it. That goes for everything, cellular, net, banks, shops, etc. We pay first world taxes for third world service.
Thanks, Andrew