Rousseff supports rigorous bill against violence in demonstrations

President Dilma Rousseff expressed on Wednesday (Feb. 19) her support  for the tightening of punishments handed out to whomever commits a crime during a public demonstration. The president declared that the government is currently working on a bill aimed at preventing all forms of violence during street protests.

“It is the role of public security agencies to prevent violence by fulfilling the law, but we must make the law more rigorous and follow the Constitution, which guarantees the citizens’ right to stage a demonstration, but it forbids anonymity. So we’re working on a bill drafted to prevent all forms of violence during demonstrations,” the president said in an interview broadcast on radio stations in Alagoas. Rousseff also pointed out that violence has already caused the death of “a head of a family,” Bandeirantes TV cameraman Santiago Ilídio Andrade, who was hit by a squib during a protest on February 6, in Rio de Janeiro.

The president further said that most demonstrators exercise peacefully their right to demand and propose changes, but she criticized the behavior of black bloc members, who conceal their faces during the protests. “I thoroughly despise the use of violence in demonstrations and I find acts of vandalism utterly unacceptable in a democratic country. People who act through violence and cover their faces to protest are not democratic. People who kill or injure other people, and people who damage public property are criminals and should be treated accordingly.”

According to Rousseff, the government is also taking part in discussions with security secretaries and military police captains from all states in order to establish common procedures to be used by the police during the demonstrations. “Our goal is to provide Brazil with a single set of norms, which sets forth the appropriate use of force through the police.”

As regards public security during the World Cup, the president said that the police in each state, supported by reinforcements, are working together with security agencies in all host cities, and that the armed forces are also ready to interfere whenever necessary. She mentioned that $792.23 million have been invested in the security and control system, so as to prevent acts of vandalism and ensure people’s safety in these cities. “As far as the World Cup is concerned, we’ll be very well prepared to ensure everybody’s safety, and I’m sure we’ll have the cup of the cups.”

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira