We publish an unofficial translation of an article by A Nova Democracia (AND).
BA: Residents protest in front of police station after police shoot dead two teenagers
Residents of Itinga erect a barricade in front of the police station to protest against the police raid in which two children were shot dead. Photo: Reproduction/TV Bahia
Residents of Itinga in Lauro de Freitas in the Salvador metropolitan region protested in front of the neighbourhood's police station, 81°CIPM, on the evening of 20 July. The demonstration took place after police shot two teenagers, a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, during a raid. Residents protested the crime against the population with barricades made of burning tyres on Avenida São Cristóvão, placards and slogans.
During the residents' protest, a young man was beaten and arrested for allegedly recording the faces of the police officers who were suppressing the protest. The police officers searched the resident's phone, handcuffed him and detained him for hours, but released him the same night.
Two teenagers shot dead
Residents of Itinga protest outside the police station against a police operation in which two children were shot dead. Photo: Reproduction/TV Bahia
The military police intervened when the residents were leaving the school at 4.30pm when the police arrived and shot at the residents. Railane França was shot dead after coming from school as she tried to protect her three-year-old niece, who was sitting on her lap, from the gunfire. Due to the severity of her injuries, she was transferred to the state general hospital the next day: She was hit in the neck and may have paralysis in the left side of her body.
According to the mother, Marluce, the police refused to help the teenager, and after a neighbour put the girl in the car to take her to the hospital, the military followed the group: "When I came outside, the neighbour had already given help and I got in the car with him. They [the police] did not want to help. When we had covered half the distance, they came up behind us and asked us to stop. Then they took my daughter and brought her back," she said. Railane's sister added that the police officers only put the young woman in the vehicle because the neighbour's car was stuck in traffic and the teenager did not want to resist the ride.
The other victim, Janderson Santos, was hit in the leg. He also had to be transferred to the HGE where he underwent surgery and is at risk of losing mobility in one of his legs. He was helping a neighbour when he was shot.
Residents who were present at the scene at the time of the shooting claim that the police shot Janderson randomly in the leg. The boy had sat down when a police officer approached him and fired.
They came and shot
Residents of Itinga protest outside the police station against a police operation in which two children were shot dead. Photo: Reproduction/TV Bahia
"It was the police. It was the police officers who shot at my daughter. There was no counter hit, only they gave it. They were the only ones who did it. There was no exchange of fire, they just came in and shot," Marluce said. The girl had returned from school and was chatting with friends around 4pm. She was with her niece when the police arrived at the scene and the shots were fired.
"Railane was out with Sarah. When she saw the shooting, she wanted to protect her three-year-old niece. If she had not done so, her three-year-old niece would have been hit by the bullet," said community leader Adriana.
The community leader said police arrived at the scene firing, and disputed police claims that they were met by traffickers at gunpoint after a report of human trafficking was received in the community. "There was no exchange of fire. Here we have 313 houses facing each other. There is no escape route. If there was an exchange of gunfire, the bloodshed would be much greater."
Other residents report being prevented by police officers from removing children who were playing in the street. One of them said in an interview for TV Aratu that she had tried to help her five-year-old daughter during the shooting, but a police officer approached her and told her not to take the child, whereupon the woman was insulted and humiliated.
Bahia is the state with the most police killings in the Northeast
The state of Bahia, ruled by Rui Costa (PT) since 2015, was declared the deadliest state in the Northeast in 2020 in terms of police killings. The published study points out that all those killed by repressive forces in Salvador that year were black. In total, there were 1,137 murders by the police.
In March 2022, the governor announced that he would build "hundreds of new headquarters for the military police and civilian police throughout Bahia". Previously, in 2021, the governor had expanded investment in facial recognition technologies with the aim of "combating violence". A 2019 study by the Security Observatory Network shows that 51.7% of those targeted with this technology were Black, and that they were only targeted because they were Black.
Like so many other thousands of Black and poor masses murdered by the police, the case of Railane and Janderson is an expression of the reactionary war against the people. The various governments of the old state are using military agents to perpetrate genocide against the people. This extension of reactionary militarisation does not serve the people in any way, not even as a measure of "public security", because the operations in the favelas and communities bring terror to thousands of innocent people who are punished only for being poor, black and living in the favelas.
