More than 600 people were killed by police in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state in the first months of this year, and most were black or biracial. Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Rio have organized the largest anti-police brutality demonstrations in years.
FILE- In this May 15, 2020 file photo, residents look at bodies of people who died amid an armed confrontation, after the bodies were brought from inside the Alemao slum complex to one of the slum's entrances in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More than 600 people were killed by police in the state of Rio de Janeiro in the first months of this year. That's about double the number of people killed by police over the same period in the entire U.S., which has 20 times Rio's population.
João Pedro Matos Pinto was one of more than 600 people killed by police in the state of Rio de Janeiro in the first months of this year. That’s almost double the number of people killed by police over the same period in the entire U.S., which has 20 times Rio’s population. Like João Pedro, most of those killed in Rio were black or biracial and lived in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, or favelas.
“Kill a young black man in a favela, it’s seen as normal — he must be a drug dealer,” Moreira said. “Racism has always been veiled in Brazil. That’s why so few of us are here. If Brazil had racial consciousness, this street would be filled.” “Good people live in the favela, people with families, who plan on growing in this life,” Neilton, 40, said. “I’m sure if this were in wealthy areas, police wouldn’t act this way, breaking down the house of someone good.”
Rio police killed a record 1,814 people in 2019, according to official data — triple the number five years earlier. The 2020 death toll is on track for a repeat. Brazil’s Supreme Court on June 5 banned police operations in favelas until the coronavirus pandemic ends, in response to outrage over João Pedro’s death.
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