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A6 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 21 November 2020

Death on eve of Brazil's Black Consciousness Day sparks fury

By DAVID BILLER Floyd earlier this year in
Associated Press the U.S., Black Lives Mat-
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A ter protests drew hundreds
Black man died after be- of thousands to the streets
ing beaten by supermarket around the world. They res-
security guards in the Brazil- onated in Brazil, too, where
ian city of Porto Alegre on demonstrators turned out
the eve of Friday's Black to demand justice for a
Consciousness Day obser- 14-year-old boy killed by
vations, sparking outrage police in Rio de Janeiro.
as videos of the incident Protesters in Brasilia also
circulated on social media. gathered Friday outside a
A short clip showed one governmental institution
guard restraining João Al- that promotes Black culture
berto Silveira Freitas just to denounce its chief, Ser-
outside the doors of a Car- gio Camargo. Camargo,
refour supermarket while who is Black, has denied
the other pummeled him the existence of structural
with repeated blows to the racism in Brazilian society
face. A store employee and called the Black Lives
stood to the side filming. Matter movement "lefty
Other clips, shot afterward, garbage."
showed a guard kneeling The French supermarket
atop Freitas' back. Holding the Portuguese message "Black Lives Matter," activists demonstrate against the murder of chain has found itself in
Dozens of protesters en- Black man João Alberto Silveira Freitas, which occurred the night before at a different Carrefour controversy before in Brazil.
supermarket, on Brazil's National Black Consciousness Day in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, Nov. 20, 2020.
tered a Carrefour in Brazil's Associated Press In August, a man died with-
capital, Brasilia, on Friday in a Carrefour in northeast-
morning, chanting "Black victim. ardo Leite, who highlighted of the population but con- ern city Recife; his body
lives matter!" One held a The men who beat Freitas recent state policies enact- stitute 74% of victims of le- was covered by umbrel-
sign reading: "Don't shop at have been detained and ed to combat racial intoler- thal violence, according to las and the supermarket
Carrefour. You could die." are being investigated for ance. the Brazilian Forum on Pub- continued operating for
Protests were called for ad- homicide due to the vic- "Unfortunately, on this day lic Safety, a nongovern- several hours. Carrefour
ditional cities Friday after- tim's asphyxiation and his in which we should be mental organization. The apologized in a statement
noon. inability to defend himself, celebrating those public percentage is even higher, and said it was changing its
Carrefour released a state- said Nadine Anflor, the civil policies, we come across 79%, for those killed by po- protocols to close locations
ment lamenting Freitas' police chief for the south- scenes that leaves us all in- lice. when deaths occur.
"brutal death," and said it ern state of Rio Grande dignant due to the exces- Local online news site G1 In 2018, a security guard at
will "adopt the appropri- do Sul, where Porto Alegre sive violence that caused reported that last night's a Carrefour in Sao Paulo
ate measures to hold the is capital. One of the men the death of a Black citizen incident at the Carrefour state beat a stray dog to
people responsible for this was a temporary military at the supermarket," he in Porto Alegre followed death with a metal bar.
criminal act." It also said police officer who was off- said. a confrontation between The dog had been well
it will end its contract with duty, said Rodrigo Mohr, Black Consciousness Day Freitas and a supermar- known in the area, and
the security company, fire head of the state's military is observed as a holiday in ket employee, who then Carrefour agreed to pay 1
the store manager who police. many parts of Brazil, where called security. Both guards million reais ($188,000) to a
was on duty and close the The two spoke on a Twitter Black and mixed-race peo- were white, G1 reported. fund for the protection of
store out of respect for the video posted by Gov. Edu- ple account for about 57% After the death of George animals.q
Pompeo visits Israel museum honoring Christian Zionists

museum in Jerusalem that Israel in 1948 were in accor- Israel's claims to territory
honors Christian Zionists and dance with biblical proph- seized in war and to isolate
was founded by a promi- ecy. The Friends of Zion and weaken the Palestin-
nent evangelical adviser to Museum was founded by ians.
the Trump administration. Mike Evans, a prominent It moved the U.S. Embassy
The museum visit came a evangelical supporter of Is- to contested Jerusalem,
day after Pompeo became rael. Evangelical Christians adopted the position that
the first secretary of state to are among President Don- settlements are not con-
visit an Israeli settlement in ald Trump's most loyal sup- trary to international law,
the occupied West Bank. porters and have hailed his recognized Israel's annexa-
He also announced a new unprecedented support for tion of the Golan Heights
policy allowing settlement Israel. They would also be — which Pompeo also vis-
products exported to the an important constituency ited on Thursday — and re-
U.S. to be labeled "made in should Pompeo pursue leased a Mideast plan that
Israel" and a new initiative elected office following overwhelmingly favored
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, poses for a photo to combat the Palestinian- Trump's presidency. Israel and was rejected by
with Daniel Voiczek, left, general manager and CEO of the led international boycott Pompeo did not deliver the Palestinians. It has also
Friends of Zion Museum, and Nir Kimhi, the museum founder's movement. any public remarks at the adopted a "maximum pres-
representative in Israel, as he arrives for a tour of the Friends of Christian Zionism is a be- museum and departed Is- sure" campaign against
Zion Museum, Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, in Jerusalem.
Associated Press lief by some Christians that rael midday. Israel's archenemy Iran
the return of the Jews to The Trump administration while brokering normaliza-
JERUSALEM (AP) — Secre- wrapped up a trip to Israel the Holy Land and the es- has broken with decades tion agreements with Arab
tary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday with a visit to a tablishment of the state of of U.S. policy to support nations.q