Categories: Politics

It is false that man disguised as a beggar tried to kill Bolsonaro

It is false that man disguised as a beggar tried to kill Bolsonaro

False: It is not true that a man disguised as a beggar tried to kill President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) with a knife, during a motorcycle ride held at Aterro do Flamengo, in Rio de Janeiro, on September 7, as a video on TikTok claims. At the time, a homeless man was arrested by the Military Police for breaking the roadblock where the motorcycle rider would pass, but he did not carry a knife but a radio-communicator.

Investigated Content: Video posted on TikTok shows a homeless man being arrested by police. The video begins with the narrator saying “people will take it, son of a *” and is accompanied by the caption: “Man disguised as a beggar tries to kill Bolsonaro with a knife today at the Flamengo RJ landfill”.

Where it was published: TikTok.

Completion of the Test: Video circulating on TikTok does not show the police arresting a man “who pretended to be a beggar” to try to approach President Jair Bolsonaro and kill him with a knife in the Aterro do Flamengo region, in Rio de Janeiro, during a motorcycle ride last year. September 7th. The images show Tiago da Silva Coelho being arrested by the police at the scene, but he did not carry any knife and there are no indications that he tried to approach the president. The occurrence was reported on the 7th, among others, by the G1 and the newspaper O Globo.

As the police station responsible for the case informed Comprova, Tiago broke the roadblock and crossed the street where the motorcycle woman would pass to pick up a radio-communicator, which fell from one of the helmets of the police officers who were escorting the motorcycle woman. Initially, the object was mistaken for a knife by the police themselves, but the hypothesis was discarded after Tiago was searched and sent to the police station. Also according to the police, the homeless man is 26 years old, was born in the municipality of Duque de Caxias (RJ) and is a crack user.

False for Comprova is all content invented or edited to change its original meaning and deliberately disclosed to spread a falsehood.

Scope of publication: As of September 19, the TikTok post that gave rise to Comprova verification had 417,500 views, 12,400 likes, 2,496 comments and 6987 shares.

What the author of the post says: TikTok does not allow sending messages between accounts that do not follow each other. Comprova found a Facebook profile with the same photo and the same name as the TikTok profile responsible for the post (Helena Claudia Avelino Gomes). A private message was sent to the account, but there was no response as of the publication of this check.

How we verified: In the verification, the Comprova team searched for information on Google, which allowed access to different publications involving the subject (G1, O Globo and Carta Capital).

Then, based on the analysis of photographs, the team looked for the location of the event. Google Maps was consulted and returned results with images of the National Monument to the dead in World War II, located at Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, nº 75, in Rio de Janeiro.

Deputy Rafael Barcia, holder of the 9th DP (Catete), was also interviewed, and we had confirmation of the place of the occurrence, as well as the identity of the detained man.

Comprova also searched other social networks for posts with similar content to try to locate the origin of the video. Finally, Comprova sought information on other social networks about the author of the post and contacted her via private message on Facebook.

Man taken by police had no knife

The arrest of a homeless man who tried to break the blockade of President Jair Bolsonaro’s motorcycle, on September 7, in Rio de Janeiro, was reported, among others, by G1, O Globo and Carta Capital. According to police chief Rafael Barcia, head of the 9th Police Station in Rio de Janeiro and responsible for investigating the case, Coelho was unarmed, and the only object found with him was a radio-communicator. The equipment had fallen from the helmet of one of the police officers who were escorting the motorcycle and was on the ground when the homeless resident broke the roadblock to get it.

In contact with Comprova, Barcia also clarified that Coelho was in the crowd, accompanying the motorcycle woman and that plainclothes soldiers were suspicious when he took the object from the ground. Initially, the radio-communicator was mistaken for a knife, which, according to Barcia, generated a beginning of turmoil among those present. The delegate sent Comprova a photo of the object seized with Coelho, and said it was an intercom radio for motorcycle helmets.

According to Chief Barcia, Tiago da Silva Coelho was taken to the 9th Police Station of Rio de Janeiro, in the Catete neighborhood. “He was very agitated and alternating moments of lucidity with paranoia. He argued with the police because he said that the military tried to remove the object from him. [comunicador] that he himself had found on the ground,” he said. “He [Tiago] did not go into details about political positions/preferences”, concluded Barcia.

At the video of the approach filmed by the newspaper O Globo, Coelho speaks towards the camera: “I didn’t do anything, they were running after me without me doing anything. I ran right in the middle of the street, but I didn’t try to do anything to anyone”. A voice (probably from the person filming the scene) asks: “But did you have a knife?”, and Tiago replies: “No. Here, the device is here, it’s not a knife, it’s a plastic, it’s nothing. I came running, I didn’t do anything with anyone, since I got in there, look, from an early age, I tell the truth”.

According to delegate Barcia, Coelho is 26 years old and was born in the municipality of Duque de Caxias (RJ). He is a crack user, is on the streets and has had other criminal convictions for robbery, theft, contempt of authority and street fights. After arriving at the police station, Coelho was charged with article 132 of the Penal Code for putting the life or health of people in direct and imminent danger. After registering a Detailed Term, he was released and will respond in freedom.

Video shows homeless man being arrested

The video analyzed here shows a man being immobilized by police in a crowd. After being immobilized, he is led across the street to a grassy area. It is possible to confirm that this is the moment of the arrest of Tiago Santos Coelho, on the 7th of September, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, from the comparison of some visual elements present in the video analyzed here and in a footage published by the newspaper O Globo on Twitter, which reported what had happened.

With 1 minute and 10 seconds of the video posted on TikTok, as the police officers led Coelho to a grassy area, it is possible to see a monument in the background. The same structure, also with a lawn area in front, can be seen in the video published by the newspaper O Globo on Twitter, starting at 15 seconds, as shown in the screenshots below.

It is a structure that belongs to the National Monument to the dead in World War II, also known as “Monumento dos Pracinhas”, located at Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, nº 75, in Rio de Janeiro. Fur Google Maps it is possible to confirm that the same structure appears in both videos. The place where the homeless resident was approached was also confirmed to Comprova by delegate Rafael Barcia.

In the surroundings of the entire lawn region, it is also possible to see, both in the video of the newspaper O Globo and in the content of TikTok, the presence of several structures in orange, which reinforces that both filmings were made in the same location. In addition, in both footage, the man being taken away by the police is covered with black plastic material, similar to a garbage bag, which also reinforces that it is the same person.

Comprova was unable to identify who the author of the video was and under what circumstances the material began to circulate, but there are other posts of the same content on TikTok, Facebook and Twitter, always insinuating that it would be someone with a knife and who was trying to kill the victim. President Bolsonaro. The oldest of them identified by Comprova happened on Facebook, on September 12th (four days before the TikTok post analyzed here).

Bolsonaro’s motorcycle in Rio de Janeiro

President Jair Bolsonaro participated in acts on the 7th of September in Brasília and Rio de Janeiro. In the capital of Rio de Janeiro, he arrived around 2 pm, in the region of Aterro do Flamengo, from where he left on a motorcycle with supporters. THE motorcycle concentration took place near the Pracinhas Monument, where the video analyzed here was recorded. From there, Bolsonaro and his supporters headed to Copacabana Beach, where the president followed the military parade and then followed. addressed his supporters asking for votes and in a campaigning tone.

why do we investigate: Comprova investigates suspicious content that goes viral on the internet and is related to presidential elections, public works and the covid-19 pandemic. The team focuses on viral publications, which have had great reach on social media and can confuse the population.

During the period before the elections in Brazil, many contents are being released with the aim of disrupting the process. This collaborates to confuse voters and create false theories about the reality of the facts.

Other checks on the topic: Recently, the site rumours.org checked the same subject and came to the conclusion that it is fake news.

Also a few weeks ago, Comprova checked other matters involving false content. At the end of August, it was confirmed as fake the video that shows Bolsonaro ahead in the Ipec poll of August 15, 2022. Weeks ago, Comprova also concluded how fake an audio in which the president would have cursed Michelle Bolsonaro before the September 7th parade.

Investigated by: CNN Brasil, Portal Norte de Notícias, Piauí and O Estado de S. Paulo. Verified by: O Dia, Correio de Carajás, UOL, Metrópoles, Plural, Imirante.com and Folha de S. Paulo.

Source: CNN Brasil