RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian activist and Rio city councilor, who was murdered on March 14, 2018, became an icon in the fight against social inequality and racism. There have been several tributes to her work, both in Brazil and in Portugal, and now Lisbon has decided to pay her a special tribute: Marielle Franco will lend her name to a street in the Portuguese capital.
The proposal presented by the Bloco de Esquerda (Left Block) was unanimously approved by the Lisbon City Council, and now the proposal by Councilor Manuel Grilo must be examined by the Municipal Toponymy Committee, in charge of defining the Lisbon street that will bear her name.
Marielle Franco was a city councilor in Rio de Janeiro representing PSOL, and won the fifth most votes in the 2016 municipal elections, with over 46,000 votes. She was murdered while traveling by car through the center of the city, after taking part in a political meeting with black women. Her driver, Anderson Gomes, was also murdered on this trip.
“A sociologist, feminist, human rights activist and critic of the recent occupation of vast urban areas by the federal government’s military intervention in Rio de Janeiro, Marielle Franco pledged to fight for human rights, particularly in defense of the rights of black women and residents of favelas and suburbs, and to denounce police violence,” explains the Left Block city councilor Manuel Grilo, in a statement sent by his office.