Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Soccer Wars: Brazil Cops Injure 15 Reporters in Last World Cup Protest

7/15/2014

"Blame It On Rio Soccer"

RIO DE JANEIRO – Fifteen reporters covering the last protest against the 2014 World Cup in Brazil were injured by police, the Journalists’ Union of Rio de Janeiro municipality said Monday.

Union leader Paula Marian slammed the aggression against reporters and demanded “a change in the model of public security, which, in the name of keeping order, resorts to brutal violence like this.”

Among the injured reporters were Peru’s Boris Mercado, who was also arrested, the Italian Luigi Spera and Canadian documentary filmmaker Jason O’Hara, who was taken to Souza Aguiar Hospital for medical treatment.

According to the union, several demonstrators were also injured during the three-hour police cordon at Plaza Saens Peña near Maracana Stadium, where Germany defeated Argentina on Sunday in the World Cup final.

Web site Terra reported that one of its photographers, Mauro Pimentel, was struck in the face and had his legs beaten by three cops while he was covering the protests.

Ana Carolina Fernandes, a journalist for the Reuters news agency, said that police ripped off her gas mask and shot pepper spray in her face.

Rio de Janeiro state police said in a communique that it understands “the importance of journalists’ work” and will deal with those who provoked the complaints about police brutality.

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