Riots have erupted across Brazil after a black man was beaten by guards outside a supermarket on the eve of Black Consciousness Day.
Social media showed João Alberto Silveira Freitas being punched in the face and kneeled on just outside the supermarket, late on Thursday.
It took place in the city of Porto Alegre, allegedly after a confrontation with a supermarket employee.
The Guardian reports that the two guards who allegedly beat Freitas have been detained and investigated for homicide.
The angry public response was reminiscent of the Black Lives Matter protests that erupted after the death of a black man, George Floyd, at the knee of a white policeman in Minneapolis in the US.
Black Consciousness Day, on Friday, is a national holiday. Black and mixed-race Brazilians make up about 57% of the population. According to the NGO the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, 79% of those killed by the police are black or mixed race.
