A rise in hate crimes has led Bahia, the Brazilian state with the highest proportion of black residents, to inaugurate its first specialized police station for crimes of religious intolerance and racism.
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00:00A rise in hate crimes has led Bahia, the Brazilian state, with the highest proportion of black residents to inaugurate its first specialized police station for crimes of religious intolerance and racism.
00:12Our correspondent Brian Meyer has more.
00:18118 million Brazilians have African heritage.
00:22This influence can be seen in organized religions like Candomblé, which is practiced by millions of people.
00:28With a rise in popularity of evangelical Christian churches, however, crimes against Afro-Brazilian religious followers are on the rise.
00:37In 2024, Brazil registered 3,853 religious hate crimes, up 80% from 2023.
00:46We've suffered racism and intolerance from the moment we were pulled out of Africa.
00:52It came with slavery, and this didn't change after we arrived in Brazil.
00:57Even though Brazil is a secular nation which has a statute that guarantees racial equality and the constitution guarantees freedom of religion, IT doesn't happen in practice.
01:07Racism and religious intolerance have been increasing in Bahia and Brazil.
01:12Typical crimes against followers of African-based religions include evangelical pastors with loudspeakers leading exorcisms in front of Candomblé temples, harassment of worshippers, death threats, and arson against temples.
01:28In response to this problem, the Bahia Civil Police have created its first specialized police station for racism and religious hate crimes.
01:38Bahia is a state with a lot of black people and Salvador is a city with a lot of black people.
01:45Nevertheless, we have a lot of crime of racism and religious intolerance in this city.
01:49This is why we had to create a specialized police station to conduct investigations as quickly and effectively as possible and provide answers to society.
01:58It's hoped that other police departments across Brazil will found similar stations based on the Bahia Civil Police model.
02:05Brian Muir, TELUSUR, Salvador