"Rolezinhos" (mass gatherings in shopping malls): the justice system has given its approval to apartheid in Brazil.
This opinion comes from Pedro Abramovay, former National Secretary of Justice and coordinator of Avaaz, a website that organizes online petitions; according to him, by granting an injunction allowing commercial establishments to choose who can or cannot enter their premises, the Justice system formalized a policy of segregation and only listened to one side: that of shopping mall owners, such as Carlos Jereissati, of JK Iguatemi, who barred suspected "rolezinho" participants; the law against prejudice is clear and establishes prison sentences of up to three years for anyone who prevents any customer from accessing a commercial establishment, but the injunctions allowed a 25-year setback for the country.
247 - Brazilian justice has formalized a policy of apartheid in the country and allowed a regression of more than two decades. This is the opinion of lawyer Pedro Abramovay, former National Secretary of Justice, who wrote an article about the phenomenon of "rolezinhos" (read here "Court order prohibiting "rolezinho" (mass gatherings of young people in shopping malls) ensures the right to segregation.")
Abramovay echoes the same sentiment as the 247 report. "Veto on 'rolezinho' enshrines Brazilian apartheid", which went viral on social media (read here"Shopping malls are spaces of free circulation. Preventing someone from entering a commercial establishment due to discrimination or prejudice is a crime," he says. "Admitting that only certain people can circulate there, with police officers and court officials analyzing who can or cannot enter, legitimizes discrimination."
In practice, Brazil has regressed 25 years with the court injunctions that allowed establishments, such as JK Iguatemi, owned by businessman Carlos Jereissati, to conduct a screening process to select who could or could not enter the premises – young black or brown people, suspected of participating in a "rolezinho" (a large gathering of young people) last Saturday, were barred with legal support and were also subject to fines of R$ 10.
This directly contradicts a law passed in 1989 by former President José Sarney against prejudice. Article five of Law 7.716 is clear and defines as a crime "refusing or preventing access to a commercial establishment, refusing to serve, attend to, or receive a client or buyer." The prison sentences range from one to three years.
Abramovay, who now coordinates the online petition site Avaaz, states that only one side was heard in this dispute: that of the shopping mall owners, like Jereissati. "In reality, it's not just a conflict between property rights and the right to protest. It's about a new agenda of inequality that doesn't end with income transfer programs, but with the question of how to create a country of coexistence and not segregation," he says.
In solidarity with the segregation officially sanctioned by the courts in São Paulo, new "rolezinhos" (mass gatherings of young people in shopping malls) were called for in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília. In the federal capital, the target is the Iguatemi shopping mall, also in Jereissati, defined by the young people as a "temple of social segregation" in invitations spread through Facebook.