so yesterdays protestsucked. its important to startoff with that because basic rights here are under siege. yesterdays protest was like a showcasefor exaggeratedly bad policing, a homegrown and fifa-approved smorgasbord ofinternational-grade repression. free speech is in deep trouble in rio, as is freedom of the press,freedom of movement, and the right to assemble. meanwhile, were drowning in a sea of euphemisms: ideas likepublic safety, pacification, and the ubiquitous progress are servingeither as smokescreens for increasingly violent repression, or as catchphrasesto justify it. photo by mauro pimentel, a photographer for the mainstream news site terra, as he was being beaten by policeyesterdays protestwas called by a coalition of different groups in an attempt to unify localactivists and boost the number of people present. even so, it was a small crowd of probably 600 people at itspeak, obviously reduced by saturdays preventative arrests and the intimidation they provoked. (the loud and incessant predictions that the brasilianteams 7 x 1 loss in the semifinals would lead to widespread politicalinstability were never more than a lot of noise).protestors started toassemble around 1 pm at praca saens pena in tijuca, a couple of miles away fromthe stadium, and started marching a little more than an hour later. the praca was surrounded by riot copsfrom the beginning, and their numbers seemed to keep increasing. by the time the march began, theyoutnumbered protestors by a factor of at least two to one. there were cordons around the marchersas well as in the middle of the march, in addition to barricades of mountedpolice, motorcycle cops, and ordinary officers on all of the surroundingstreets.policing in rio hasalways been defined by its brutality, but its important to point out that what went down yesterdayhappened without any real provocation. none of the protestors threw projectiles or rushed police barriers orskirmished with cops or among themselves (although when groups of cops moved into search or arrest protestors at random, other protestors would surround them,chanting and monitoring what was going on). because of the barricades, only about three blocks were availablefor marching: the protest moved tothe first barricade, reversed course until it ran into the second, and thenstarted to head back, at which point the cops started to unleash the stungrenadres and tear gas (the pepper spray had started earlier in generous butselective doses). i assume this is tear gas, but i didn't stay long enough to find outphoto by ellan lustosa/a nova democraciai was at the back ofthe march, along with a friend with a cracked rib. we had decided to leave at the first sign of trouble, so asthe tear gas bombs started to fly in on three sides of us, we speed-walked inthe one direction that was mostly clear. we managed to slip past one barricade with pleading looks and ours handshigh in the air, but one block later, we found ourselves sandwiched betweenfive lines of police with all available exit routes cut off. pedestrians who were on their way homeor leaving apartments or stores in the neighborhood were stuck with us. the air was mostly clear where we were,but the smell