Adílison Oliveira, a journalist at the municipality of Taboão da Serra in the state of São Paulo, was beaten by 10 young men after photographing an accident at a Brazilian state school.
“I was beaten by a group of about ten students from the school E.E. Edgard Francisco at Taboão da Serra (…) for not accepting their demands to delete the images”, Oliveira told newspaper Taboão em Foco.
The journalist was photographing an event at the state school when he caught a student who had suffered burns on her face during one of the presentations. After the incident, a group of students surrounded Oliveira and demanded that he erased the picture. He was punched and kicked when he refused to do so.
A report was filed at the police station of Taboão da Serra. Many local communication groups called on the civilian police to start an investigation and punish those responsible for the aggression.
According to the news portal O Taboense, "the attack against Adílson will also be notified to the Journalists' Union, to the National Federation of Journalists and to the local authorities."
This episode against Adílison Oliveira is the latest case of aggressions and attacks against journalists in Brazil.
A few days before, in Santa Luzia do Paruá, west of Maranhão, Brazil, journalist Wilson Brito was brutally attacked by two relatives of people who are being investigated for alleged misappropriation of public funds, newspaper O Imparcial reported.
Since 2012, violence against journalists and the free press has escalated significantly in Brazil. The organization Reporters Without Borders has ranked the country as one of the most dangerous places to practice journalism due to its high mortality rate, assaults and attacks against freedom of speech.
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.
