Brazilian authorities will investigate video of crowd doing apparent Nazi salute
Brazilian authorities will investigate video of crowd doing apparent Nazi salute
BRASILIA – Brazilian authorities will investigate the video footage of a crowd doing what appears to be a Nazi salute, in a major case that may spark a broader debate about the country’s strict anti-communist laws.
In what appears to be a typical Brazilian anti-communist display, police officers in riot gear forced a crowd to leave a street near a Catholic church in Rio de Janeiro on April 4 before beating and arresting dozens of people from a group of indigenous activists who were demonstrating against an environmental project.
The police were filmed kicking and punching the indigenous activists as they tried to escape, and then chasing them down the road.
The officers eventually turned their attention to the demonstrators and began making an anti-communist salute, the far-right group Patriotas Patriotas wrote on Facebook, “which means ‘We are the free people.’”
“At that point, they stopped the demonstration and made us walk the line of the street. We had nowhere to go. Nobody was defending us. We were surrounded and attacked by cops with their dogs,” Marly Cordeiro, an indigenous activist, told the Associated Press on April 18.
Police said the officers were acting as a crowd control unit and that the video is a “deliberately manipulated act of provocation.” Police added that all those involved are facing charges. The video was posted on Facebook by the anti-government Patriotas Patriotas group.
But some social media users are calling on Brazilian authorities to investigate the footage and punish the officers.
Terríatano Fernandes, a leader of the group, posted the video, saying that the cops do not represent “the good police,” because “I can guarantee you there are many worse police.” He added, “The only thing we have against them is that they should be investigated, so that it doesn’t happen again.”
The incident took place in Rio de Janeiro between a demonstration of the indigenous group FUNAI and an environmental organization called the Environmental Defense Fund, or FEDA.
On the morning of April 4, Rio de Janeiro police fired tear gas, pepper spray and fired rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of activists demonstrating against the environmental
