RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilians who are critical of their government’s ambiguous response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic dug 100 graves and placed black crosses on the sand of Rio’s Copacabana beach on Thursday in honor of nearly 40,000 people who have died so far.
The grave was dug overnight on the beach opposite the luxurious Copacabana Hotel in a protest by Rio de Paz non-governmental organization.
Brazil has become a major center of the coronavirus pandemic, with 39,680 deaths and more than 770,000 cases confirmed on Wednesday, the worst outbreak in the world after the United States.
Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has underestimated the gravity of the pandemic and encouraged local governments to take up quarantine measures, sending contradictory signals to Brazil about whether to use masks and practice social distance.
Reuters
“The president has not yet realized that this is one of the most dramatic crises in Brazilian history,” said organizer Antonio Carlos Costa, who criticized Bolsonaro for not showing solidarity with suffering.
“Families mourn thousands of people dead and there is unemployment and hunger,” he said.
Not everyone agreed with the protest.
Reuters
An angry man pulled a cross, shouting against symbolic tribute. Another man, who said his 25-year-old son died of COVID-19, went around replacing a fallen cross.
“This is really a tragedy,” said a passer-by by Marcia Lucia Dias. “It’s very scary to see a cross. But this really happened. Our authorities contradict themselves and we don’t know what to do. “
