18 May 2024,   19:56
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Black man’s death by security guards in Brazil sparks outrage, protests

New demonstrations against racism took place outside Carrefour supermarkets in Brazil to protest the death of a black man beaten to death by white guards at a Porto Alegre store branch.


A video taken Thursday night in the southern city showed 40-year-old welder Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas repeatedly being punched in the face and head by a security guard while he is being restrained by another at a Carrefour market.


The clip quickly went viral on social media, and triggered a first round of demonstrations on Friday as the country marked Black Consciousness Day. More protests were held on Saturday, when Silveira Freitas was buried.


In Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, around 100 protesters gathered at a shopping center where one of the French group’s supermarkets is located. Other protests brought drew several dozen people demanding a boycott of Carrefour in various parts of the country, such as Salvador de Bahia or Santos.


Rio protesters carried banners reading “Black Lives Matter”, using the slogan prominent in the United States during demonstrations against recent police killings of minorities.

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