Members of the NGO Rio da Paz hold papers with the names of the children shot dead by the police since 2007 along Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during a protest against the death of a boy killed by police last week, on April 5, 2015. -AFP Photo
RIO DE JANEIRO: Demonstrators in Rio de Janeiro took to the famous sands of Copacabana on Sunday to protest the death of boy who was killed in the crossfire during a police gunfight in a favela.
Members of the Brazilian non-profit group Rio de Paz marched along the beach and symbolically buried a white coffin in the sand in a show of solidarity for the 10-year-old victim, who died Thursday.
Police say Eduardo de Jesus Ferreira died during a shootout between officers and drug traffickers. But his family insists he was killed by police.
Tensions have been high since the killing and security concerns in the Brazilian city are again under the spotlight ahead of next year’s Olympics.
About 20 activists carried placards with the names of 18 children who have been killed during clashes between police and drug gangs in the favelas between 2007 and 2015.
Antonio Carlos Costa, the founder of the activist group, told AFP the purpose of the demonstration was to “wake up” Rio’s population to the major cause of these violent deaths: the gap between rich and poor.
“How will the city of Rio de Janeiro respond? It will host the 2016 Olympics, yet here is the death of a poor child, the victim of stray bullets. How can we expect peace in such an unequal city?” Costa said.
In a statement, President Dilma Rousseff expressed solidarity with parents of the slain boy and called for those responsible to be punished.
Brazil’s government has carried out a drive to crack down on crime in Rio ahead of the 2014 World Cup and next year’s Olympics.
In all, 38 police units have been sent into 174 impoverished, crime-wracked neighborhoods around Rio as part of a major public safety program. -AFP