In Brazil, protesters are demanding justice for Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, a Black man diagnosed with schizophrenia who was killed by federal police in the city of Umbaúba on May 25. 

Sao Paulo, June 2 (RHC)-- In Brazil, protesters are demanding justice for Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, a Black man diagnosed with schizophrenia who was killed by federal police in the city of Umbaúba on May 25. 

Video of the incident shows a pair of officers trapping Santos inside a vehicle after releasing a tear gas canister inside.  A medical examiner later determined Santos died of asphyxia. 

On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters marched through São Paulo demanding justice.   One organizer of the protests said: “Genivaldo was tortured for a crime he did not commit, a Black man with mental health issues.  The family begged for his life, but they were not heard.”

Many Brazilians are comparing the death of Genivaldo de Jesus Santos to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which took place exactly two years prior.  Santos’s killing came just days after police killed at least 25 people during a raid on a favela in Rio de Janeiro.