The streets of Brazil demand justice for Marielle Franco on the occasion of the anniversary of her murder | Internationale

"Seeing people who have abandoned their daily routine to be here, is to have the notion that it is something much bigger," said Luyara Franco, daughter of Councilor Marielle Franco, executed there exactly one year ago with his driver, Anderson Gomes, in Rio. from Janeiro. Luyara was next to her aunt, Anielle Franco, and several friends, activists, artists and collectives on a stage set in Cinelândia, in the center of Rio, in a huge tribute to the human rights defender whose crime shocked Brazil. just a year ago "This affection comforts a little, yes, it allows me to know what my mother represents as a black woman, single mother, homobadual, periphery and human rights defender. "

In March 2018, more than 50,000 people spontaneously went to Cinelândia to bid farewell to Marielle and Anderson and, literally, to demand justice. This Thursday, a smaller crowd than that, but still great, went to the same place to pay tribute to the councilor and once again ask for justice. It took almost a year to identify the first two suspects, military police officers Ronnie Lessa and Elcio de Queiroz, arrested on Tuesday. But now, it is feared that the investigation will end without identifying the intellectual perpetrators of the murder in a state like Rio, infiltrated by organized crime. Family and friends ask who ordered to kill Marielle and why.

The Cinelândia Act was the latest in a series that unfolded Thursday in Brazil's second most populous city. Several points of the city woke up with banners, flowers and posters with tributes to Marielle and Anderson. It was like this in Largo do Machado and in the Lapa district, but also in the street, in the very place where they were executed, in the Estácio district (central area of ​​Rio de Janeiro). ). Events have also been held in São Paulo, on Paulista Avenue and in the Jardim Ângela district (south), as well as in some cities in Brazil and around the world. In Buenos Aires, the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, historical activists of the fight against the repression of the Argentine dictatorship, have joined the tribute. In the United States, a series of conferences also served to remind the board. At the center of Brazilian studies at the prestigious Princeton University, Angela Davis, icon of the global black movement, delivered the keynote address.

Who ordered to kill Marielle?

Tributes started early this Thursday. In Rio, around eight o'clock in the morning (local time), an immense banner on which was engraved "Marielle gigante" was displayed in the Pedro Ernesto palace, seat of the municipal chamber of the city. Sunflowers were also placed in the staircase, accompanied by messages such as "Justice for Anderson and Marielle", "Marielle lives, Marielle presents", "Democracy will not be interrupted" or even "Who ordered to kill Marielle? ". An hour later, a minute of silence attended by members of the Socialist Party and Freedom (PSOL), to which belonged the councilor, took the stairs of the Tiradentes Palace, seat of the Legislative Assembly. Rio (Alerj). 365 sunflowers were extended, which represents the 365 days without the counselor and her driver. Marielle received a sunflower at the beginning of her trip to the Municipal House in 2016 and this flower became a symbol of her election campaign. The sunflower, explained the organizers of the act, "is a flower that does not die, it becomes a seed".

But the main ceremony of the morning was a mbad in the emblematic church of La Candelaria, in the center of Rio de Janeiro, also filled with family members, friends and people close to Marielle and Anderson. MP Marcelo Freixo, Marielle's political mentor, left a clear message: "We will not leave the street until we know who ordered to kill Marielle – it's the decisive question".

This message would be repeated by many people throughout the day. "We want to know who ordered the badbadination of Marielle so that justice is done, and more: the whole world wants to know, because the flags that she has raised have become universal," said Cristina pedagogue Terribas on Avenida Paulista. 57 years old. Andreia Batista, 47, who is in charge of public relations, remembers the writer Carolina de Jesus, born 105 years ago, the same day as the death of Marielle Franco, to underline the importance of her memory for black women. "Marielle left a legacy that few people knew when she was alive, unfortunately, but it spread after everyone's death." We are together, with the strength of Marielle and Carolina de Jesús, not to let their struggles remain. l & # 39; oblivion. "