Brazilian government seeks to know Black Bloc group to fight vandalism more effectively

Criado em 30/10/13 09h45 e atualizado em 30/10/13 09h46
Por Danilo Macedo Fonte:Agência Brasil

Brasília – Gilberto Carvalho, the president's principal administrative aide, said on Tuesday (29) that the government is attempting to make a more accurate assessment of the Black Bloc movement. Their goal is to fight more effectively the acts of vandalism staged during popular demonstrations in Brazil.

In his view, it is necessary to get to the root of the problem in order to solve it: “We've been talking with the police, with the authorities of the states and also with society, with youth movements, trying to make this assessment quickly because simply to criminalize it immediately won't solve it,” and he added: “What we want is to stop the violence, but, at the same time, [we want] to get to the root of the problem so we can understand this issue and take the necessary measures.”

The minister also said that the police should fight vandalism, but it is necessary to know more about the Black Bloc movement, a group that has been active in the protests across the country since June. He added that one of the biggest obstacles is the absence of interlocutors from the movement through whom a dialogue could be held with the government: “The apparent language – I insist, 'apparent' – is the language of destruction, of denial. Now we need to have a bridge. We're trying really hard to begin this dialogue so we can find an effective solution, because repression is necessary, but, by merely repressing it, we won't solve the problem in its depth.”

Carvalho agrees that the population has been made a sort of hostage of the movement: “The fact that demonstrations have gathered fewer and fewer people showed us that this is true. People started to step back when confronted with violence.”

Black Bloc is the name given to a protest strategy, anarchistic in its appearance, in which people with related interests go to demonstrations wearing masks and black clothes. Their presence is more conspicuous in protests and demonstrations staged in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Edited by Fábio Massalli / Lícia Marques
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira