Naked Protesters Against Police Brutality

Police violently attacked protesters and bystanders on the last day of the World Social Forum. It started when a Mapuche woman who was attending the WSF and staying at the international youth camp was arrested with charges of "obscene acts" for bathing nude in a river. Activists saw this and organized over 400 people to protest by nonviolently taking their clothes off in solidarity. When the nude protest left the youth camp to march downtown the police attacked. After injuring and arresting some of the the nude protesters the police lashed out at journalists and bystanders. An unknown number of people were hospitalized or arrested as a result of the police assault.

At the end of a week of rhetoric about international solidarity this is a disgraceful example of intolerance. Unfortunately, this police repression is consistent with past years whenever groups have protested without the WSF and PT's (Workers Party's) consent. The PT lost the latest elections in Rio Grande do Sul and no longer control the police in Porto Alegre. In protest of the PT's authoritarian dominance of Brasilian social movements and Lula's trip to Davos, a Brasilian anarchist pied the President of the PT during the WSF.

Video of the Protest [pt] | Deposition of a journalist wounded during the protest [pt] | Photos of the Nude Protest Against Police Brutality | Updates on the Prisoners [pt] | Video of people describing the attack [pt] | More Photos

Comment on this story

Brasil Indymedia

Offical WSF Website

[article.homepage.prefix]: http://images.indymedia.org/imc/mayday/nude_protesters_in_brasil-thumb.jpg

add a comment on this article