The Peace Rally in the beginning of the V WSF gathers 200.000 people according to the Rio Grande do Sul military brigade. Considering the initials objectives of the event, the rally had an excessive carnival effect.
Social movements as the ?Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens? ( Hit Barrage Moviment) and the ?Movimento Nacional de Luta por Moradia? (National Moviment of struggles for Habitation), realize protests of direct action. In the dawn of the 25th, the MNLM occupied a federal health public building, abandon a long time ago in downtown of Porto Alegre. Wednesday morning (26th) MAB realized a series of blocks in highways in 4 different points in the State of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
Thursday, 27th, the day started with a speech of the Brazilian president Lula in front of a very distinguished audience, composed by thousands of ?petistas? wearing shirts who said ?100% Lula?, militants of PSTU, PSOL and people with no political affiliation who protest inside and outside the Gigatinho (place where the speech happens). After Lula?s speech, two students who hissed the president were arrested and attacked by securities.
In the end of the first day of activities, the Culture?s Minister, Gilberto Gil, visited the Share Knowledge Lab and participate in an activity about Free Software . During the visitation, groups connected to the media democratization movement made a big protest demanding explanations from the minister about the repression of the free and communitary radios. The debate was not very long because the Minister Gilberto Gil and his advisers did not attend the request of the free and alternative media groups to give an interview away from the coorporated media.
wsf 2005 – wsf – www.agp.org (archives) | www.all4all.org