A wave of rumors spread on social media about the threat of mass attacks on educational institutions this Thursday, which led to many schools closing at dawn or working with very few students because the management chose not to risk it or the parents of the students were afraid. The situation occurred throughout Brazil, but was more visible in major cities, especially in Sao Paulo.
The date of the alleged bloody attacks on kindergartens, schools and universities was not chosen by chance. This Thursday marks 24 years since the terrible school massacre in Columbine, USA, where 15 people were killed in 1999, and radicals around the world celebrate the birthday of German dictator Adolf Hitler, born on April 20, 1889.
In response to a wave of online threats, the federal police, which operate across the country, and police in several states launched a series of operations two weeks ago against suspects of planning or simply threatening massacres in schools. Minister of Justice Flavio Dino said this Wednesday that 225 people were arrested in 10 days, including many minors who planned, threatened or encouraged massacres, and another 10 people were arrested on the same day, six of them in state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, where a few days ago a 25-year-old gunman killed four children in a kindergarten and injured five more.
In São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, where two weeks ago a 13-year-old student killed a teacher and wounded three other teachers and two female students, schools and kindergartens have taken tighter security measures, including the use of armed guards, which experts have not recommended. Similar measures were taken across the country, and education and public safety authorities tried to convince parents of students that Thursday’s mass killing threats were unfounded and intended only to create panic, but parents could not take their children to school. and others did not open or opened, but then closed because the students did not come.
Author: Domingos Grilo Serrinha This Correspondent in Brazil
Source: CM Jornal
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