FLASHBACK – A protester holds a sign reading “I don’t want to be the next” during the “Jornada Nacional de Luta Pelas Vidas Negras” (National Day of Struggle for Black Lives), which demands an end to police violence against Black communities in Brazil. The event took place in downtown Rio de Janeiro on August 24, 2023, organized by over 250 Brazilian Black Movements in response to recent police violence and the killing of Black individuals, including a 13-year-old shot dead in Cidade de Deus earlier this month. (Photo by DANIEL RAMALHO/AFP via Getty Images)
Jul 7, 2024 Story by: Editor
Brazil’s foreign affairs ministry has issued an apology to the embassies of Canada, Gabon, and Burkina Faso following an incident where police officers searched three Black teenagers, all children of diplomats, at gunpoint.
The situation came to light when a Brazilian boy’s mother shared a security camera video online. The video sparked outrage and highlighted the frequent harassment Black youths face in Rio de Janeiro.
The three diplomats’ children were on a five-day holiday in Rio with a white Brazilian friend to celebrate the end of the school year. They attended the same school in Brasília and were on their first trip without parents.
On Wednesday evening, as the group returned from the beach to a building in Ipanema, a military police patrol car approached. Two officers exited the vehicle, ordered the boys to face the wall, and conducted a gunpoint search.
Rhaiana Rondon, the mother of one of the Brazilian boys, said the Black teens were specifically targeted by the officers.
Rondon, who shared the video, noted that the footage clearly showed different treatment based on race. “The officer was much gentler with my son because he is white, while the three Black youths had guns pointed at their heads,” she said.
In statements to a state parliament committee, the teenagers recounted that the officers even demanded they expose their private parts to check for drugs. One of the boys wrote to his parents saying, “When the agents left, they warned us not to walk around or we would be searched again.”
Rondon asserted, “The footage, testimonies, and the children’s accounts are clear: the search was racist.”
The foreign boys involved are the sons of the ambassadors of Gabon and Burkina Faso, and a Canadian diplomat.
Julie-Pascale Moudoute-Bell, the wife of the Gabonese ambassador, expressed her outrage to TV Globo, stating, “The police are there to protect. How could they point guns at the heads of 13-year-old boys? … We trust in the Brazilian justice system and we want justice, that’s all.”
On Friday, the foreign ministry in Brasília extended a “formal apology” to the ambassadors of Gabon, Burkina Faso, and Canada. The ministry also urged the Rio state government to conduct a “thorough investigation and ensure appropriate accountability of the police officers involved in the incident.”
Jurema Werneck, executive director of Amnesty International Brazil, stated, “There’s nothing besides racism to explain the attack these Black teenagers suffered.” She emphasized that such incidents occur daily in Brazil “in the favelas, outskirts, poor and Black communities.”
“Unfortunately, the brutality suffered by these teenagers is not the first and, sadly, won’t be the last. … In Brazil, no young Black person is safe.”
A recent report highlighted that in 2022, over 1,300 people were killed by the police in Rio, with 87% being Black—a stark contrast to the 58% proportion of Afro-Brazilians in the state’s population.
Rio’s military police, responsible for patrol duties, stated that body camera footage from the involved officers will be reviewed to determine “if there was any excess.” The civil police, responsible for investigations, mentioned that their tourist assistance and racial crimes units are investigating the case.
Rondon mentioned that the incident left the teenagers traumatized. “On Thursday, they saw the same patrol car passing by, got really scared, and hid in an ice cream parlour,” she said. “Now, when they hear a siren, even from an ambulance or fire brigade, they get scared.”She had given her son various safety tips before the trip due to concerns about Rio’s violence. “I warned him to be careful with his phone on the street, not to leave his backpack on the beach chair,” she wrote. “But I never imagined that the police would be the biggest threat.” Source: The Guardian
