{"id":4365,"date":"2014-11-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.conectas.org.inf.br\/wp\/noticias\/empty-chair\/"},"modified":"2018-01-25T15:52:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-25T15:52:04","slug":"empty-chair","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/empty-chair\/","title":"Empty chair","content":"

The police do not want to debate the police. This Tuesday (November 18), despite having been asked by the Federal Prosecutor\u2019s Office and the S\u00e3o Paulo State Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office to take part in an unprecedented public hearing on police action at demonstrations, the S\u00e3o Paulo State Military Police Commander, Colonel Benedito Roberto Meira, left an empty chair at the event.<\/p>\n

To begin with, Meira officially notified that he would not be attending the hearing. Later, after the participants had already arrived at the auditorium of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the authorities telephoned to announce that he had changed his mind. An hour later, the hearing now running late waiting for his arrival, there came another change of plans: he would definitely not be participating in the discussion.<\/p>\n

The incomplete panel was formed by Rafael Galati S\u00e1bio, from the Public Defender\u2019s Office; Everton Zanela, a state attorney; Aur\u00e9lio Veiga Rios, a federal prosecutor; Oscar Vilhena, director of the Get\u00falio Vargas Foundation Law School; and Eduardo Dias, special advisor to the S\u00e3o Paulo State Public Security Secretary, Fernando Grella \u2013 the only person to represent the S\u00e3o Paulo Executive at the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cA new form of articulation has reached Brazil, based on network organization, which knows no bounds and can give rise to a series of situations,\u201d said Dias. The advisor also emphasized the number of protests that have taken place over the past three years. According to Dias, there were 80 demonstrations in S\u00e3o Paulo in June 2012, 255 in the same month in 2013 and 58 in 2014. \u201cWhy do some of them get out of hand and how?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dias was challenged by Vilhena, for whom \u201cthe right to demonstrate imposes on the State the duty of being bothered, of losing comfort\u201d. \u201cThe authorities have been unable to separate the violent groups and this is serious, because this inability has resulted in a sacrifice for the whole social movement,\u201d said Vilhena. He added that the situation reflects the same \u201carbitrary practices that the Military Police use in the outskirts of the city against poor and black youths\u201d.<\/p>\n

After the members of the panel had spoken, nearly 40 accounts corroborated Vilhena\u2019s analysis. They denounced the abuses committed by the Military Police during protests, the frequent attacks on journalists, the lack of transparency by the police and also the indiscriminate and illegal use of less-lethal weapons \u2013 a debate that has gained momentum since a S\u00e3o Paulo court issued an injunction<\/u><\/a>, which was overturned by the State Court<\/u><\/a> not long afterwards, to ban the use of rubber bullets.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9rgio Silva, a photographer who was blinded in his left eye during the protests of June 13, 2013<\/u><\/a>, took to the podium to demand an end to the use of these types of weapons. \u201cThis cowardly ammunition has injured countless victims who have been struck in the upper body and the head,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m nearly 6 foot tall. Imagine the direction the firearm was pointed for me to be shot in the eye. Take a look at my prosthetic eye and I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll understand what I\u2019m talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"While the photographer was speaking, demonstrators held up banners and signs calling for a ban on the use of rubber bullets at protests. And Silva himself handed a document with 45,000 signatures in support of the ban to Fernando Grella\u2019s advisor.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/u><\/a> to sign the petition created by S\u00e9rgio Silva to prohibit rubber bullets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his speech, the associate director of Conectas Marcos Fuchs affirmed that \u201cthere is international concern over the adoption of minimum criteria for the use of force by agents of the State\u201d. \u201cExperiences in other countries illustrate that the choice of violence is not a technical decision, but instead a political decision.\u201d<\/p>\n