Women from the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) were violently repressed by the Military Police (PM) this Wednesday (8) while protesting outside the Legislative Assembly of Pará (Alepa).
The group participated in the act “March for the Life of Women”, which marked the International Day of Women’s Struggle. According to the MST, a woman was hospitalized after feeling sick and having a seizure.
A video shows demonstrators leaving the site after suffering from pepper spray. In the record, a woman lying on the ground is supported by another person. Hundreds of protesters around shout in repudiation of the violence.
Young man hit his head after inhaling gas, says MST
Jane Cabral, from the national coordination of the MST, stated that the women were peacefully occupying the external staircase of Alepa, when they were surrounded by the PM, who used physical force and pepper spray to expel them.
“A young woman inhaled the substance and fainted. She fell, hit her head and was taken to the hospital having seizures. Now she is stable, under observation and will be discharged”, said Jane Cabral, who participated in the protest.
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“Whenever male and female workers go in search of their rights, the state police of Pará react in a very truculent and even criminal way. We could have had a much more serious case”, continued Cabral.
The act was part of the National Day of Struggles of Landless Women, which takes place throughout the country. In Pará, the protest was in favor of a Bill that prohibits the aerial spraying of pesticides, a practice responsible for the contamination of crops and family farming producers.
The legislative proposal is authored by state deputy Lívia Duarte (Psol), who used social media to criticize the PM’s action.
MST blames Assembly president
The National Day of Struggle of Landless Women takes place in 22 states and the Federal District, with marches, land occupations and public bodies. On Tuesday (7), members of the movement occupied the Instituto De Terras do Pará (Iterpa), an agency equivalent to Incra in the state.
The MST reported that, in addition to Pará, cases of police repression and by private security guards were registered in Rio Grande do Sul and Piauí. In a note, the MST classified the case of Pará as the most “emblematic” and stated that the PM acted under orders from the President of the House, Deputy Chicão (MDB).
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“Women without Land denounce the various forms of patriarchal and racial violence, which have affected people in vulnerable conditions and made victims, such as cases of femicide, LGBTIphobic murders and suicides that have been experienced in recent years. willingness to build emancipated human relationships, free from all forms of violence”, stated a statement from the Movement.
Other side
O Brazil in fact asked the government of Pará, the Secretariat of Public Security and the president of the Legislative Assembly, Deputy Chicão (MDB), for a position, but there was no response until the publication of the report.
Editing: Thalita Pires
