4 Brazil Skinheads Arrested in Plot Against Jews and Neo-Nazis
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Four skinheads who reportedly were planning an attack on a group also carrying anti-Jewish neo-Nazi propaganda were arrested at a bustling Sao Paulo subway station.
The skinheads, who were carrying knives and axes as well as the Nazi propaganda, were arrested Wednesday in Anhangabau. They were about to perpetrate an attack on the other group, the R7 news portal reported.
Jews were also a target of the skinheads: Police seized posters with “Jews out” messages in Portuguese, as well as advertising material featuring Adolf Hitler and Italian fascist Benito Mussolini.
Last May, two Brazilian skinheads were sentenced to eight years of detention for promoting Nazism on Facebook. Soon after, three swastikas were found painted on walls in a Rio de Janeiro neighborhood that is heavily populated with middle class and elderly Jewish residents.
According to Brazilian law, promoting Nazi or Nazi-related propaganda can lead to a prison sentence of two to five years, plus a fine.
Sao Paulo is home to some 60,000 Jews, more than half of Brazil’s Jewish population.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
