March 30, 2018 - 12:07 PM
RIO DE JANEIRO - Protesters took to Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of 13-year-old Maria Eduarda Alves da Conceicao.
Alves da Conceicao was hit by stray bullets from a military police officer's rifle while drinking water from a fountain on her school's patio during gym class.
The gathering, organized by NGO Rio da Paz, was in protest of all the children killed in shootouts, particularly those who live in Rio's many favelas.
Classmates of Alves da Conceicao held signs with the names of 47 other children killed between 2007 and 2018. Clothing, backpacks, toys and other items belonging to young people hit by bullets were hung on clotheslines stretched across the beach, and victims' relatives were in attendance.
It's been just over a month since Brazil's President Michel Temer called for a federal intervention in the state's public security.
Despite the intervention, violence has continued. In Rocinha, there have been 12 victims of gun violence in the last two weeks, including a military police officer. Another person was shot and killed in the favela Thursday.
Just over two weeks ago, city councillor Marielle Franco was also killed in a shooting that police and her supporters have described as an execution. She had previously denounced the killings of favela residents, which she blamed on police.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018