The mayor of the Brazilian city Barra dos Bugres (in Mato Grosso) grabbed a reporter by the neck when she was trying to interview him for the TV channel Independência, which is affiliated with the station Record, on Thursday, May 24, reported the newspaper O Dia. The attack happened during a City Council event that took place in a stadium of that city.
According to the news portal Terra, reporter Elissa Neves had approached Mayor Wilson Francelino to talk about the event, but the politician refused to be interviewed and when he was questioned, the mayor grabbed the reporter by the neck and said something in her ear.
In a video published on YouTube that filmed the attack, the reporter seems to tell the mayor that he is hurting her. In response, the mayor asks her with a smile: "Me? Is that true?" The reporter filed a complaint against the mayor, according to the news portal Bol.
In response to Portal Imprensa's request, the mayor's adviser sent a letter to try to clarify the incident. The letter explained that Francelino grabbed the reporter from the neck "not meaning to hurt her," but to try to "say into her ear" that he couldn't do the interview at that moment, but that he would be willing to be interviewed live on the program.
