Jornal do Brasil newspaper:

RIO - Around 400 people participated in a march today in the streets of Queimados, in the Baixada Fluminense, to call for peace and the punishment of those responsible for the 30 deaths which happened on the night of the 31st of March in that city and in Nova Iguaçu. The relatives of some of the 12 victims in Queimados did not participate in the manifestation as they did not accept the presence of a group of police from the Quemados Battalion - where some of those suspected of committing the crime are stationed. The relatives were able to stop the
movement of the truck containing the PA system, which delayed the start of the protest.

The commander of the battalion, lieutenant colonel Marco Aurélio
Hippertt, tried to calm the protestors:

"We are the people most interested in the conviction of the criminals. This must be punished", emphasised the military policeman.

One of the organizers of the event, the coordinator of Viva Rio, Rubem César Fernandes, said that the police are also indignant.

"While there is fear and confrontation between the population and the police, the trauma which results from a police massacre will not be overcome. This will only happen on the day that the residents and the police join hands."

With feelings under control, the police were able to join with the
protestors, who left the Praça Nossa Senhora da Conceição square, in the center, around 10:40 am, in the direction of the car wash where four people were murdered. The march then continued to the battalion, in the suburb of Fanchen. The participants made a symbolic embrace around the
barracks and glued posters in memory of the victims to the walls.
According to Agência Brasil [news agency], those present sang the
national anthem and prayed for the dead. The manifestation ended in the field Campo da Banha, where another five people were murdered.

Rio de Janeiro.

Globo newspaper:

Residents reactive to MPs in protest.

The start of na argument involving residents of Queimados and Military Police caused problems for a few minutes during a peaceful manifestation yesterday in the suburb, in memory of the victims of the massacre which happened ten days ago. Relatives of some victims were upset when they found out that
around 25 police from the 24th Battalion (Queimados) would participate in the act and protest.

The step-father of the student Marcel Júlio do Nascimento, one of the victims, did not hide his disagreement, and stood in front of the truck containing the PA system, trying to prevent it from moving. He ended up disagreeing with the commander of the battalion, Marco Aurélio Hippertt.

"They killed our sons and then want to participate in a manifestation, holding hands with the parents? I don't accept this", he shouted, upset.

In the beginning, the mayor of Queimados, Rogério do Salão, requested that the police not participate in the march, but he ended up authorizing their presence. The police carried a banner in support of the residents. Some of the relatives of the victims abandoned the march, which contained around 400 people.

"There is a small part of the corporation which is corrupt, but the
majority of the police have character. The good should not pay for the bad", the mayor said.

O Dia newspaper:

Tension in Protests

Relatives of the dead criticise participation of police in one of the
manifestations.

The present of 25 police from the 24th Battalion (Queimados), with banners in support of the victims of the massacre in the Baixada Fluminense, caused protests from relatives of the victrims during the manifestation, yesteday morning, in Queimados. Upset, the parents of the student, Marcelo Júlio Gomes do Nascimento, one of the victims of the massacre, abandoned the march in protest to the participation of Military Police.

In Nova Iguaçu, Diego Couto Bion, 20 years old, cousin of the student Rafael Silva Couto, 17 years old, killed on the Dutra [motorway] when riding a bicycle, said that the family would move to the interior of São Paulo [state].

The manifestations in the two cities had approximately 1,500 people. In Queimados, the protestors passed by the places where the victims were killed. The air of commotion turned into revolt when Military Police from the Battalion where seven of the suspects of the crime served, appeared with banners. "Get out of here, your place is in the barracks", the shop owner Paulo Nascimeneto, father of the student, Marcel Júlio, said.

Commander of Battalion makes an appeal to the family in vain

The commander of the unit tried to control the situation: "For the love of God, don't be like that. We also have a heart and are feeling the same problem. You cannot turn against all of us. Most of the police are good people", replied the commander of the 24th Battalion, Colonel Marco Aurélio Hippertt. Despite the commander's appeal, the youths' parents abandoned the march.

In Nova Iguaçu, one of the most emocional moment happened when 30 inmates from the House of the Minor São Miguel Arcanjo took replicates of coffins with the names of the victims of the massacre. Theatre groups, NGOs and trade unions also participated in the manifestion.

Official help will be given to the families

The mayor of Nova Iguaçu, Linderg Farias, sent to the Municipal Chambers [City Hall] a proposed law to give financial support to the families of the victims. "The massacre was the voice of the old Baixada, full of crimes and death squads, wanting to return and echo. We will not give in and the crime will not remain unpunished. Let us plant the seed of hope through education", he said.

Despite the mobilization, only the relatives of two of the victims of the massacre in Nova Iguaú appeared at the protest, among them the mother of Douglas Brasil de Paula, 14 years old, killed while playing videogames in the bar in the Rua Gama street. Broken down, she did not want to speak abou the subject. Almost three hours later, the protest finished with speeches from various social entities and politicans in the Praça Rui Barbosa square.

The political use of the manifestation was criticised by relatives of
the victims, including Diego Coutros Bion, 20 years old, cousin of the student Rafael Silva Couto, 17 years old. "I am sad because what should have be an homenagem became a political act", he lamented.