PM violence leveraged June 13 and empowered military – 09/06/2023 – Politics

The violent actions of the São Paulo Military Police on June 13, 2013 turned that night into one that changed the history of the country.

Dozens of protesters, journalists and even people who were just passing through the street were attacked by police who repressed the protests against the increase in public transport fares.

These were not specific cases, as the corporation sometimes seeks to justify, but a widespread conduct seen as a reaction to scenes of aggression against a PM in a demonstration two days earlier.

The police brutality that night is seen by scholars as one of the crucial moments of the Jornadas de Junho — and of its impact over the last ten years.

The PM’s violence, they estimate, ended up setting fire to the acts and contributed to reversing the increase in transport tariffs less than a week later, in addition to leaving the political establishment on the ropes.

In the following years, they would gain space, especially after the rise of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the troop empowerment paved in the June Journeys and military politicization —which, through action or omission, ended up influencing the occupation of the streets at different times .

“One of the great catalysts in June was the action of the PM, which used disproportionate force and catalyzed people’s feelings of taking to the streets”, says Rafael Alcadipani, a professor at FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas) and specialized in accompanying the police.

“There you begin a greater radicalization of the country and a vision of a very politicized police, who will get involved in political affairs”, he adds.

The CEO of the Brazilian Public Security Forum, Renato Sérgio de Lima, says that 2013 was when it became clear how much autonomy the PM had.

“At that moment, what did we notice? Who was deciding who could be on the street and who couldn’t, when they could, when they couldn’t. The police’s margin of discretion was very large”, he says.

Lima claims that police officers have always been recruited in more conservative segments, but that, since 2013, the opposition between the left (protesting against the corporation) and the right (exalting the troops) has ended up accentuated, mixing ideological preferences in the way they act.

The Jornadas de Junho had particularities that made the work of the police difficult.

They were commanded by a group without formal leaders, the MPL (Movimento Passe Livre), and brought to the streets masked demonstrators who adopted depredation as a means of protest, a tactic known as black bloc.

Two nights before the 13th, PM soldier Wanderley Paulo Vignoli, who worked in security at the Court of Justice, in the Sé region, came across fans of the practice. He tried to stop some graffiti and ended up surrounded by demonstrators, some of them hooded, who threw stones at him while shouting “lynch, kill”. With a bloody forehead, the agent even drew his gun.

The image helped change the troop’s moods.

In the following protest, the PM decided to prevent the demonstrators from reaching the top of Avenida Paulista, shooting rubber bullets and gas bombs. As a result of that night, seven journalists from Sheet ended up injured—reporter Giuliana Vallone was hit in the eye by a rubber bullet.

Photojournalist Sérgio Silva suffered the same type of aggression and ended up blind that night, which also had among the striking images that of a couple attacked outside the protest, on Avenida Paulista.

The general commander of the PM at the time, Colonel Benedito Meira, claims that the police were taken by surprise both by the magnitude of the events driven by social networks and by the tactics of the black blocs, but says he sees a positive balance.

“Did we have any demonstrators killed? None. Did we have any police officers killed? None. Different from what happens in other countries,” he said. “I understand it as a positive balance, despite the damage that has occurred to several people”, also citing police officers who ended up with sequels.

Cases against military police officers suspected of abuse have not advanced. In the civil sphere, the public power was not held accountable.

The photojournalist filed a lawsuit against the State, but lost and had an appeal denied this year by the São Paulo Court of Justice, on the grounds that there is no evidence that he was even hit by a rubber bullet.

The professional recorded the moment when the police tried to prevent, on Rua da Consolação, demonstrators from reaching Avenida Paulista. He took cover behind a newsstand and, when he came out, got to photograph the troops.

“It was at that moment that the shots, the bombs resumed. I photographed this troop in profile. When I lowered the camera, I felt the impact of an object in the eye”, he says.

Sérgio Silva reports nonconformity with the course that Justice has given the case so far. “My feeling is revolt, indignation. I don’t accept having to hear a decision like that knowing the origin of the violence I suffered.”

The year following the Jornadas de Junho was marked by protests against the World Cup in Brazil, when, once again, the black blocs crossed the path of the PM. This time, the corporation was stocked up on non-lethal ammo and Robocop-style exoskeletons.

According to data obtained through the Access to Information Law, spending on chemical ammunition increased from BRL 15.5 million in 2013 to BRL 26 million the following year, not counting BRL 2.5 million in non-lethal weapons.

Expenses of this type remain high, and spending on non-lethal weapons alone reaches R$ 20 million this year.

Victims of police actions in demonstrations were repeated in the last decade. An emblematic case was in 2016, when student Débora Fabri lost her sight after having her eye pierced by shrapnel from a bomb, in a protest against the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff (PT).

Questions about the PM’s role in dealing with crowds were also replicated, as in the one that culminated in the death of nine young people during a funk dance in 2019, in the favela of Paraisópolis (south zone). The victims were trampled to death and asphyxiated after police beat the crowd with truncheons and used chemical ammunition.

The SSP (Secretary of Public Security) of São Paulo states that, in 2013, the PM “acted to contain people who committed acts of vandalism and damage to public and private property”.

According to the folder, the PM has techniques that prioritize mediation and freedom of free expression and, in the last 17 months alone, “acted to protect people and preserve public order” in 4,372 demonstrations.

In 2018, the election of Jair Bolsonaro becomes a new milestone for the empowerment and politicization of police officers, with the segment increasing in protagonism and Bolsonarism growing in the ranks.

This year, in the Chamber of Deputies, the number of elected members of the security forces increased by 35.7% —almost half of the PL, Bolsonaro’s party.

In January 2023, when coup plotters invaded and vandalized the headquarters of the three Powers, in Brasília, the episode was marked by criticism of the inaction of the Military Police of the Federal District.

“Police action does not happen only because they act, but also because they omit themselves”, says Renato Sérgio de Lima.