Artists are attacked in São Paulo during wall painting in support of Palestine

Brasil de Fato

Artists taking part in the painting of the lateral part of a building on Consolação Street, São Paulo, suffered what they describe as a “Zionist attack” on Sunday afternoon (4). According to them, a man approached the artwork – an almost 30-meter mural in homage to the Palestinian people – kicked ink cans, assaulted the team on the ground and even touched the ropes holding visual artist Kleber Pagu at the top of the wall.

The activity is part of the National Day of Muralism in defense of Palestine, organized by the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST, in Portuguese) in different Brazilian cities. The building that houses the mural is the same where the Occupation Penha Pietra is, which is also part of the scheduled political activities.

“What happened was an act of intolerance, a Zionist attack targeting an artist. But the most serious thing is that a person was hanging from ropes and the attacker pulled those ropes. In other words, there was an attack on the artist’s life,” said Luciano Carvalho, the coordinator of MST’s National Day.

The case was referred to the 78th Police District, in the Jardins neighborhood, where a police report was filed. However, at the time of writing, Brasil de Fato had not received a response from the police on the matter.

Visual artist Kleber Pagu, who suffered the most serious aggression, comments that “at other times there were insults, cars honking, but there’s a huge difference when someone comes up to you and attacks you. Another line has been crossed,” he says.

An inauguration of the work was scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday (4). After the attack, however, the afternoon schedule was changed to a protest against the violence the group suffered. “We’re going to finish the work and hold a political event. But we’re going to need popular security guards to deal with this state of violence,” said Luciano Carvalho.