By Giovana Sanchez
More journalists were injured by the military police during protests against increased transportation fares in São Paulo on Jan. 21. This is in addition to the assaults reported during the military police’s repression of demonstrations on Jan. 12 when at least nine media workers were wounded.
According to the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji for its acronym in Portuguese), 21 journalists have been assaulted or detained by military police during demonstrations in São Paulo this year.
Abraji published a press release condemning the attacks and said that "images recorded by mobile phone and television cameras show that even identified reporters were hit with baton blows, shoves, bombs and rubber bullets."
Also according to Abraji, on Jan. 21, Folha de S.Paulo photojournalist Avener Prado was wounded with a rubber bullet in the leg while recording the protest in Republic Square in São Paulo. Estadão de S. Paulo photographer Gabriela Bilo was hit in the face with pepper spray, hit on the back with baton blows and wounded in the head and legs.
The same night, two reporters who were in the entrance to Folha de S. Paulo newspaper were taken by the police with a group of protesters to be searched, according to Folha de S. Paulo. The newspaper said the military police assured it will investigate the case.
The Association of Professional Journalists of São Paulo State (SJSP for its acronym in Portuguese) met with other entities on Jan. 22 to discuss defense strategies for protecting journalists during protests.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
