Rio favela residents protest police killings

(26 May 2019) Around 1,000 human rights activists and residents of Rio de Janeiro's favelas protested on Sunday against the police violence after the state saw a record 434 police killings in the first three months of 2019. The protest called "stop killing us" took place on Ipanema Beach at the same time as a mass demonstration in support of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was happening on the adjacent beach. Bolsonaro and Rio Governor Wilson Witzel support shoot-to-kill policing tactics in neighborhoods where drug gangs operate. "Enough with robbing us of our lives and dreams. Enough of living in fear of shootouts at our front doors " read pamphlets. Many participants had lost family members to police violence. "My feeling is anger, is sorrow and sadness. I'm here, my son will not come back, nothing that I or someone else does will bring my son back, but I would like this (police violence in the shantytown) to stop so no other mother feels what I'm feeling," said Sandra Mara da Silva, whose son, a professor of Jiu Jitsu working in a social project in the complex of the shantytown Complex of the Alemão, was killed on May 14th from a shot to his head. According to witnesses, Jean da Silva was killed by a policeman when he was arriving at the place where he and children trained. The authorities are investigating the circumstances around his death. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...