Wedding celebrations

[Gob]

A Brazilian politician has accused left-wing protesters of physically and verbally abusing her wedding guests over her family's support for President Michel Temer.



Maria Victoria Barros, 25, is a member of the state assembly in Parana and daughter of Mr Temer's health minister.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the church where the ceremony was taking place on Friday evening.

Pelted with eggs, she had to leave the church in an armoured vehicle.

The lavish ceremony attracted the state's political elite, including her father, Ricardo Barros, and her mother, Cida Borghetti, Parana's deputy governor.

At least 30 member of the Brazilian Congress were invited to travel from the capital Brasilia for the wedding in the Parana state capital, Curitiba.

Demonstrators carried anti-government signs and shouted slogans at Ms Barros, accusing her of being a "coup plotter".

Footage posted on YouTube shows security guards opening umbrellas to try to protect the bride and groom as they left the Church of the Rosary.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40622273

[RayThom]

My type of woman -- tough but cute.

Her detractors are big meanies and should leave the fair unmaiden alone.

[Scooter]

Let's start with who she is, because she ain't no disinterested civilian.

Her father is the federal minister of health.
Her mother is the deputy governor of their state.
And she herself is a member of the state assembly.

Both the father and the mother are personally implicated in corruption scandals involving tens of millions of reals.

Both of them have been instrumental in "reforms" in the health and education sectors, respectively, that have had disastrous impacts on availability and quality of service. Which the daughter supported publicly.

All three of them are ostentatiously closely allied with President Temer, himself mired in corruption.

They chose to advertise how well connected they are to powerful people by making the wedding a who's who of Brazil's political elite. There were rumours that the President would himself be in attendance.

There was the business about hiding the facade of a historic landmark, without getting the proper permits, with a temporary metal canopy that was built to create more space for the 1200 guests, who could choose gifts worth upwards of 50,000 reals from the bride and groom's registry.

The daughter made choices to publicly support policies she has always known were widely unpopular. She publicly supports a president mired in corruption scandals that dwarf what allowed his predecessor to be impeached. She is a politician who filled the guest list of her lavish wedding with politicians, when she knows that a huge number of Brazilians feel betrayed by a political class that promises a better life for all and never delivers, and that purports to root out corruption while being corrupt. And then she is surprised that there were protesters at her wedding...where else would they have the opportunity to get the attention of so many politicians at once? How could protestors NOT have shown up?

The smart move would have been to keep her head down after uttering the the line about "price of democracy" line, instead of parroting Trump about the "left" paying people to protest her wedding and how it was all about her mother's run for governor next year. She comes across as completely tone deaf and an airhead.

[Joe Guy]

But she's cute. What more could you ask for?

[RayThom]

But she's cute. What more could you ask for?

My thoughts exactly.

The little people are always envious of "power families." They need love, too.

[Big RR]

The Hitlers can attest to that.

[Bicycle Bill]

Let's see. People — including some of the same posters on this thread — get pissed off at the Westboro Baptist idiots when they protest at and disrupt a church service (funeral) for a deceased soldier, police officer, or AIDS victim, but it's OK for a similar group of wackos to protest at and disrupt a church service (a wedding) for a live politician?

Bad form.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

IMHO, anything in the realm of peaceful protest is fine for a politician--they chose that role and they have to live it--it goes with the job. There's a big difference between a dead soldier (or police officer or AIDS victim) and a politician IMHO.

As for whether those protesting in the OP are whackos, I'll reserve my opinion as I haven't studied the political situation in brazil, but politicians have to put up with the whackos.

[Bicycle Bill]

IMHO, anything in the realm of peaceful protest is fine for a politician....

I suppose signs and slogans would fall under that parameter, whereas slashing the tires of the wedding party's vehicles, on the other hand, is clearly a no-no.  I would think that being pelted with projectiles — whether it is eggs, rocks, or even flinging poop like other monkeys — on one's wedding day also crosses the line.

Like I said, bad form on the part of the protesters.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

Slashing of tires (I only read the account quickly and didn't see that mentioned) probably does cross the line; throwing eggs is in a gray zone. If you're a political figure you want to make a spectacle of yourself, I think that is a risk you take--especially if the wedding is as much a political as a personal event.

[Crackpot]

No throwing eggs does cross the line. It is still assault. Is it minor? Relatively speaking but we shouldn't aspire to act like assholes.

[Big RR]

IMHO it depends who they are being thrown at. It is civil disobedience and may well land the egg thrower a fine or jail, but sometimes it is the only way you can be heard.

[Gob]

At someone's wedding?

[Joe Guy]

Throwing eggs is the same as throwing rice. It's wishing them a fertilized marriage...

[Bicycle Bill]

Throwing eggs is the same as throwing rice. It's wishing them a fertilized marriage...

Eleanor Rigby
Mops up the eggs in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream

Nah, it doesn't have the same ring to it.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

At someone's wedding?

A wedding that was at least as much a political event, with prominent politicians invited and news coverage, as a personal one.

[Lord Jim]

No throwing eggs does cross the line. It is still assault. Is it minor? Relatively speaking but we shouldn't aspire to act like assholes.

I agree with CP...

If you choose to be a high-profile politician in a democratic country then protests come with the territory, but no one should be expected to have to put up with physical assault...

Just because you disagree with somebody elses politics doesn't give you the right to behave like a bullying street thug...

That sort of behavior should be discouraged with stiff fines and jail sentences; lord knows our political environment has become toxic and coarse enough without taking that sort of conduct as acceptable...

[Big RR]

Jim--this was in Brazil, not in the US, and their political environment is quite different from ours.

As for it being "acceptable", I didn't say it was. But it is understandable, as are many acts of civil disobedience IMHO.

[Lord Jim]

But it is understandable, as are many acts of civil disobedience IMHO.

Well here's where we definitely differ...

I don't see throwing eggs at people, (or any other type of physical assault) to constitute "civil disobedience"...

I see that as very uncivil disobedience...

When African American activists in the south had sit-ins at lunch counters that wouldn't serve them during the 60s, they just sat there refusing leave...

They didn't throw food at the restaurant manager...

I seriously doubt that Mahatma Gandhi, who is widely considered the creator of the modern-era strategy of civil disobedience, would have viewed physical assault as falling under that definition either...

[Guinevere]

No throwing eggs does cross the line. It is still assault. Is it minor? Relatively speaking but we shouldn't aspire to act like assholes.

I agree with CP...

If you choose to be a high-profile politician in a democratic country then protests come with the territory, but no one should be expected to have to put up with physical assault...

Just because you disagree with somebody elses politics doesn't give you the right to behave like a bullying street thug...

That sort of behavior should be discouraged with stiff fines and jail sentences; lord knows our political environment has become toxic and coarse enough without taking that sort of conduct as acceptable...

Agreed with Jim and CP.

Yell, shout, hold signs, but throwing eggs is assault and I certainly don't see it as civil disobedience.