World News Thousands march in Brazil after murder of activist councilwoman
RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) - Thousands took to the streets of Brazil’s largest cities last night to protest the execution-style murder of a popular Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman, an outspoken critic of police killings of poor residents.
Investigators, prosecutors and even drug gang leaders said the shooting of Marielle Franco, 38, a rising star in the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), appeared to be a political assassination.
Franco, an activist for human rights and women’s causes, was killed along with her driver on Rio’s dangerous north side around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night. Her press secretary, who was traveling in the same vehicle, suffered minor injuries but was not shot.
Just weeks ago, the federal government decreed that Brazil’s army would take over all security operations through the end of the year in Rio, where murders have risen sharply. Franco, part of a commission to oversee the military intervention, harshly criticized the move on Sunday, saying it could worsen police violence against residents.
“It is far too soon to say, but we are obviously looking at this as a murder in response to her political work, that is a main theory,” said a Rio de Janeiro public prosecutor, who spoke on condition that he not be named as he was not authorized to discuss the case.
Rivaldo Barbosa, head of Rio’s Civil Police, told reporters, “One of the possibilities in analysis is, yes, an execution.” He did not speculate on who may have been responsible.
An investigator with the city’s police force went further, saying the prime motive appeared to be Franco’s calling out police for allegedly killing innocents in their constant battles with drug gangs.
Political violence is common in Brazil but typically in smaller or more impoverished cities.