Gangsters in Brazil have tried to prevent the circulation of newspapers carrying articles they believed hostile to election candidates they favoured. Rio de Janeiro's daily Extra was the first to suffer after it ran a report about alleged irregularities committed by a member of the state government standing for election.
Groups of men bought up 30,000 copies, but the paper republished the offending report the following day. Police are now investigating "an electoral crime." Some 10,000 copies of the Foco Popular, based in Seropédica, were also stolen by three men after it reproduced Extra's report.
In the city of Porto Velho, northern Brazil, distribution of the Imprensa Popular newspaper was disrupted after eight men threatened the newspaper's circulation coordinator. They said they were acting to defend the mayor, a candidate for re-election.
In an unrelated incident, the home of Rubens Coutinho, editor of the Tudo Rondônia and Jurídico Rondônia websites, was bombed. He was unhurt. He believes the attack is related to his online papers' critical view of the authorities.
(Source: Brazzil magazine)
