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July 5, 2024
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian authorities apologized on Friday after police officers were filmed armedly confronting the children of the ambassadors of Canada, Gabon and Burkina Faso.
Surveillance footage of the incident, which happened in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday night, showed a police officer getting out of his car and charging towards a group of four young people with his gun drawn.
Two of the teenagers were then propped up against a wall and searched before being released by police, who left the scene a few minutes later.
The minors, who live in the capital Brasilia, were holidaying in Rio’s affluent Ipanema district when the clashes occurred.
“How can you put a gun to the head of 13-year-old boys?” Julie Pascual Mdouté Bell, wife of Gabon’s ambassador to Brazil, said in an interview with Globo television.
“Even if you’re an adult, you approach me and ask me a question first and then tell me why you’re approaching me,” she continued.
As a result of the clash, Brazilian authorities met with the ambassadors of Gabon and Burkina Faso on Friday to formally apologize, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Canadian ambassador did not attend the meeting.
Brazil’s military police also issued a statement saying it would review body camera footage of the officers involved “to determine whether there was any excessive use of force by the authorities.”
{“jamaica-observer”:”Jamaica Observer”}
