Brazil protests counter military coup celebration [View all]

[ocpagu]

Riot police used pepper spray and tear gas Thursday to chase protesters away from a celebration by retired soldiers marking the 1964 coup that established Brazil's long military dictatorship.

Former officers have gathered every year to mark the occasion, but now they're facing a growing tide of opposition and had to push through about 200 people screaming "murderer" and holding up photos of those killed during the regime.

Unlike Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, which also had repressive military regimes, Brazil has never had a formal investigation into human rights abuses during its 1964-85 dictatorship. A 1979 amnesty law barred prosecutions for politically motivated crimes committed during the regime.

"Brazil is so far behind on this. This is our history, and it's not told," said protester Maria Auxiliadora Santa Cruz Coelho, the sister of a young student activist who was detained in 1974 by the military and never seen again.

Those who lived it won't forget, she said. "My mother is 98 years old, and she doesn't want to die without knowing what happened to her son. This has been her life."

Read more:
http://news.yahoo.com/brazil-protests-counter-military-coup-celebration-225153308.html

---------------------------------------------------------

Some pics:

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/3PqY2EHcqcZEvMECl46SRQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00NDE7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/
An elderly retired military man passes by relatives of tortured and disappeared people while they shout slogans during a protest outside the Military Club in Rio de Janeiro where the military celebrate the 48th anniversary of the 1964 military coup, on March 29

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/bqtrK_LpvsSUV4JUZO5c5g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MzI7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/
Activists shout "murderer," at a retired military man, center, arriving at a military club in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/RpY2wKdMjVnMmt_Syyl9PA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00NDY7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/
An activist shields herself as a police officer pepper sprays her during a protest outside a military club in downtown Rio de Janeiro