A little more than ten days after the death of 13-year-old Thiago Menezes Flausino, killed by military police in the City of God favela, a funeral procession was organized in Rio de Janeiro, on Copacabana beach, this Friday 19 august. In 2022, almost 6,500 people were killed by the police.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Rio, Sarah Cozzolino
In front of the mythical Copacabana Palace, 14 white coffins sink into the sand. They represent the teenagers killed by the police this year in Rio. Leliane, family friend of Thiago Menezes Flausino, has a daughter of the same age. ” Every day, a young black man from the favela dies, even though he has nothing to do with the crime. For people to listen to us, you have to come here, to Copacabana. Because in the favela, our voice does not carry “, she says.
On one of the coffins, there are cleats and a football shirt. Thiago dreamed of becoming a professional football player. His father, Diogo accompanied him to his matches. ” His drug was football. He has always been sporty, studious. And now we gotta run after justice “, he reports.
“ It broke our hearts »
Hamilton saw the body of his nephew, hit by five bullets in the early morning. “ Thiago’s blood was still fresh. I pray to God that this scene gets out of my head, to forget. It broke our hearts he says. For Priscilla, Thiago’s mother, a new struggle is beginning for justice. ” The cops who did this have to pay. They must be imprisoned. They’ve been suspended, but that’s not enough “, she believes.
The demonstrators challenged the governor of the state of Rio. They hope that the families of the victims of police violence are listened to. A few days after Thiago, a five-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet in another Rio favela.
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