As The Guardian reports, protests swept across Brazil yesterday after a popular Rio city councillor, Marielle Franco, was killed on Wednesday night in an apparent assassination. Franco was a staunch advocate of Rio’s poor and disadvantaged favela residents. Her assassination comes a month after the Brazilian military took over policing in Rio, ostensibly to combat growing violence among drug gangs. Read an excerpt from the Guardian article below.
If you’re in the New York City area, a demonstration in support of Marielle Franco will take place today, March 16, in Union Square at 6pm local time.
Franco was a gay black woman who defied the odds of Rio politics to win the fifth-highest vote count among council members when she was elected in 2016. She was an expert on police violence and had recently accused officers of being overly aggressive in searching residents of gang-controlled shantytowns. A member of a leftist party, Franco was also known for her social work in favelas. She was in her first term in office.
“She was a symbol of the politics we believe in,” said communications student Jefferson Barbosa, 21, who worked with Franco at the state legislature.
“I have never been so scared,” he said. “People are shocked with what happened. They did this to Mari, one of the most popular lawmakers in Rio. What will stop them doing this to others?”
“The reaction is of indignation, revolt and sadness,” said Matheus de Santos, 20, a truck driver’s assistant from Rio’s Cidade Alta neighborhood. “She was a great representative for the black movement, for the LGBT movement.”
Image of memorial for Marielle Franco via The Guardian.