Workers’ Party Blames Bolsonaro and Supporters for Police Mutiny in Ceará

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Workers Party (PT) blamed President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters for the mutiny of state police officers in Ceará that aggravated the number of homicides in the state, closed schools, and stores and ended with the shooting of Senator Cid Gomes in a barracks of the Sobral state police on Wednesday, February 19th.

The party says in an official statement released on its website that Bolsonaro is directly responsible for the rioting of state police (PM) officers, for their bad practices and history of military insubordination, and other situations of violence and undermining of democracy in Brazil. It denounces the encouragement of these actions by far-right officials and the actions of city councilor Sergeant Ailton, who led the mutiny at the Sobral barracks where Cid Gomes was shot.

“It is even more serious that riots like this are encouraged, openly or insinuated, by the President of the Republic himself, who throughout his trajectory keeps links with insubordination and the worst vices in military corporations; Jair Bolsonaro is directly responsible for this and other situations of violence and institutional and democratic deterioration in the country”.

It reports that Governor Camilo Santana is striving for a return to normalcy and has imposed punishments on those who continue to riot. He says that these police officers should be handled as criminals, who intimidate the community and commit criminal acts.

In the statement, the party praises the governor’s conduct in the negotiations with the PM representatives and in the referral made to the Legislative Assembly with the category’s salary demands.

“In the uncompromising defense of the population’s interests, comrade Camilo Santana’s government held and continues to hold a democratic discussion with the representatives of the state police, while always bearing in mind the population’s right to public safety, and forwarded proposals to the Legislative Assembly that address wage demands within the State’s budgetary reality”.

It confirms that Santana requested the support of the National Forces to curb the riot and guarantee public safety in the state while maintaining the federative autonomy and the authority conferred by the popular vote. It says the actions of the federal forces in Ceará have a fixed period, particularly during Carnaval.

Source: UOL