By JONAS TIAGO SOUZA SILVEIRA*
For Sebastião Melo and Eduardo Leite, the cultural manifestation seems to become a crime, depending on the neighborhood where it takes place
On Friday night in Cidade Baixa, it was possible to see more than 50 military police officers in just four blocks, even though the city was emptier and without any events.
Carnival 2025 was already difficult in Porto Alegre. Even before the date, several groups had already reported on social media that they had difficulty obtaining authorization for their events. The popular CarnaLopo was one of those that had these difficulties. Despite the mobilization of locals and merchants, its permission was denied one day before the event. CarnaLopo was taking place without the use of public resources, and organizers had already reported an above-normal delay in responses when trying to obtain a license for the carnival in Cidade Baixa.
The same problem does not seem to have occurred in other neighborhoods, such as in the 4th District, where several bars have already announced their Carnival schedule and all have received the necessary license from the Melo government. One of these bars, called Larica, is owned by Eduardo Baldasso, who was recently the financial director of the Secretariat for Development and Creative Economy of Porto Alegre.
Without authorization, a partnership already known to the Melo and Leite government was repeated: police repression. Shortly before 21 p.m., in front of the Dirty Old Man, more than 20 military police officers occupied the block. On the other side of the street, in front of a small convenience store, there were another 20. This was a small reflection of what the night would be like; on several other corners there were teams of two to four military police officers, in addition to patrol cars circulating every two minutes. But what was the purpose of this? To reinforce the security of the neighborhood?
The Lower City does have its security problems. Recently, there was an interview with a shopkeeper who owns a candy store, talking about the subject. She had installed a security camera in front of the store, but someone stole the camera shortly afterward. Theft of wires, air conditioning cables and similar items is also common in the neighborhood, but what is not common is the current police attention. I wonder how the shopkeepers feel seeing so much police force to repress the public during Carnival, but not seeing even a tenth of this motivation during the rest of the year to maintain order and prevent thefts that occur in the early hours of the morning.
A spot in the city that always gathers the most people, near Lima's Bar, was where the Military Police first intervened. They threw stun grenades, used pepper spray and fired rubber bullets at the people who were on the street. Note: there were no street parties there; it is a corner of the city that always has the largest concentration of people on the sidewalk due to bars with more affordable beer.
For Sebastião Melo and Eduardo Leite, the cultural event seems to become a crime, depending on the neighborhood where it takes place. Thus, the festival of joy is becoming a target of violence for the people who participate, but of favoritism for those who are friends of the king.
*Jonas Tiago Souza Silveira is a journalist and filmmaker.
the earth is round there is thanks to our readers and supporters.
Help us keep this idea going.
CONTRIBUTE
