RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian Senator Cid Gomes was shot in the chest in the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceara on Wednesday, as he tried to intervene in a strike by military police demanding higher salaries.
Gomes, a former governor of Ceara state, opposed the strike and tried to drive a backhoe through the gate of a police base. He was shot while storming the barricades, reportedly by one of the officers.
According to local press reports, Gomes had given an ultimatum to the striking police officers to unlock the gate, before taking on the bulldozer.
The bullets did not hit any vital organ and the senator is not in danger, according to his brother Ciro Gomes, also a Brazilian politician.
Gomes is a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party and was Minister of Education during the government of Dilma Rousseff.
After the shooting, the federal government decided to deploy the National Public Security Force to the state. An order to this effect, signed by Justice and Public Security Minister Sergio Moro, requested that federal forces stay there for at least 30 days.
Though Brazilian military police officers are forbidden from going on strikes, sometimes they break the rule, calling for better salaries and working conditions.
An unknown number of officers began a strike Tuesday, dissatisfied with the negotiations with the state to raise their pay. In Brazil, the military police are in charge of patrolling the streets, among other duties, and it is illegal for them to strike.
Throughout the day, small acts of vandalism have occurred across the state. Masked men invaded several police barracks, smashing police window-shields and puncturing tires. In one instance, men drove off with patrol cars and parked them in line blocking nearby streets.
In the city of Sobral, where the 56-year-old former governor was injured, men wearing balaclavas on-board police vehicles forced businesses to shut their doors for the day, online news portal G1 reported.
The Public Security Secretary said in a press conference around mid-day, hours before Sen. Gomes was shot, that authorities would not tolerate the illegal strike. The state secretary said some 260 officers were already under investigation, and that any striking policeman would be banned from receiving its salary and possibly fired.
Justice and Public Minister Sergio Moro said in a statement Wednesday night it would deploy federal forces to help maintain order. The federal police and federal highway police have also been sent to Sobral to ensure the security of Gomes.
In 2017, hundreds of police went on strike in Brazil’s Espirito Santo state and were indicted. The standoff produced a wave of violence, looting and burning of buses. Schools were closed, and medical services and public transportation interrupted. To stem the tumult, the federal government deployed more than 3,000 troops from the military and the national guard.
In 2011, during the last Ceara police protests, many were also arrested. “If they show their faces, they’re fired or arrested,” said Manuela Barroso, a spokesperson for a military police association.
“Today the situation is different,” Barroso said, voicing fears that the strike could lead to looting and clashes in an already violent state. “Back then, the city was not as dangerous as it is today.”
