Clothes donated to Petrópolis rot and Justice orders them to be incinerated

The city of Petrópolis collected this Sunday (20) thousands of clothes and shoes donated after the rains in February, when 233 people died and four are still missing.

The pieces spent days outdoors, in a city square, and even rotted, according to a decision by judge Jorge Luiz Martins, of the 4th Civil Court of Petrópolis. Now, due to the condition of the clothes, the Justice determined that they be incinerated by the city hall.

The donations were accumulated in a tent at Praça Dr. Miguel Couto, in the Alto da Serra neighborhood, one of the regions most affected by the storm last month. In his decision, the magistrate highlights how the donated material was treated with disregard by the municipal authorities.

The judge visited the place last week and found the presence of rats, cats and insects (cockroaches) on the clothes, which were “piled up, apparently damp, wet, putrefying, unfit for human use”.

In a note, the Petrópolis city government informed that it was the state government that let the donations accumulate in Praça Dr. Miguel Couto, in addition to abandoning tents and chemical toilets at the site.

The prefecture also informed that it only distributes new clothes, from donations made by the Federal Revenue.

THE CNN contacted the State Secretariat for Social Development and Human Rights, appointed by the city hall as responsible for the abandoned donations in the square, and the ministry informed that it did not set up the donation sorting structure and that the state teams had no contact with the clothes that were accumulated. and rotted.

In the decision, Judge Jorge Luiz Martins also mentions that the victims of the rains deserve to be treated with respect.

“As for donations, irrespective of species, nature and quantity, they come from solidarity, respect, consideration and protection for those who are being scourged by the pain of material and emotional loss, an incurable pain, devastating the structural pillars of emotionalities, the custody and management acts, in the broadest sense, belong to the municipal federative entity”, highlights the magistrate.