Scores of black and leftist activists staged a boisterous rally in Sao Paulo on Saturday to protest attempts to bar underprivileged youths from shopping malls in middle-class areas.
An estimated 150 protesters, waving banners proclaiming: “Enough with apartheid” and “End the genocide of black people” massed outside the JK Iguatemi shopping mall and demanded to be let in.
The protest was called in support of the so-called rolezinhos, mall gatherings of hundreds of low-income teens that have at times degenerated into disturbances and store looting.
Photo: AFP
Ahead of the crowd’s arrival, security was bolstered at the JK Iguatemi mall and the management decided to close it down.
The angry demonstrators unfurled a banner proclaiming: “In the World Cup country, racist malls deny entry to black and poor people.”
The World Cup is to kick off in Sao Paulo on June 12.
“They are denying us the constitutional right to enter any commercial space,” said Douglas Melchior, an activist of the UNEafro black civil rights group. “We are going to take legal action to reverse this violation of the constitution.”
The protesters also denounced “police assassinations of black youths” in the country’s slums.
In a statement, the JK Iguatemi management said it decided to temporarily close the mall “to guarantee the security of its clients, store owners and collaborators.”
It added that while it respected “democratic and peaceful demonstrations, the mall’s premises and activities are not adequate for any type of demonstration.”
A week ago, the mall secured a court injunction to block a rolezinho.
Police also used tear gas and rubber bullets on Jan. 11 to disperse about 1,000 teenagers taking part in a similar flash mob in an eastern Sao Paulo shopping center, according to videos taped by the participants and posted on social media networks.
Joselicino Junias, a member of the anti-racism organization Circulo Palmarino, said the rolezinhos or flash mobs aimed to challenge the “fundamentally racist, segregationist nature” of Brazilian society.
They also seek to touch off a debate over “the urgent need for the state to provide recreational and cultural activities for underprivileged youths,” he added.
Several local shopping centers have secured court injunctions to deny entry to troublemakers, but they deny charges of discrimination and racial profiling.
Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin insisted that the rolezinhos, which are coordinated via social media, are not illegal. However, he vowed that police would intervene if the gatherings degenerated into violence and vandalism.
Meanwhile, local officials are trying to arrange meetings with the sides to defuse tension and work out an acceptable compromise.
On Thursday, the Shopping Jardim Sul in southern Sao Paulo was evacuated and security beefed up after 200 militants of the Homeless Workers’ Movement rallied outside in support of the rolezinhos.
More rolezinhos are being planned for Sao Paulo and other Brazilian cities, including one calling thousands of youths to go to Shopping Leblon, in Rio de Janeiro’s posh southern zone, yesterday.
Pakistani police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account. In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces. “The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson said. Investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor,” the police report said. The man was subsequently arrested. The girl’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” said police in
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
RSS