Brazil: Critical Mass Bicycle Event – Accident or Homicide? · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Critical Mass is an event that takes place in over 300 cities around the world, when tens, hundreds or even thousands of bikers gather in the streets to encourage the use of bicycles as an alternative form of transport to motorized and polluting vehicles.
On every last Friday of the month the city of Porto Alegre in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, holds its own critical Mass event [pt], but on February 25, 2011, a tragedy occurred; Guilherme Valadares from the blog Papo de Homem (Man Talk) explains [pt]:
Critical Mass poster calling for the use of bicycles. Used with permission.
Você está dentro de um Golf preto, em Porto Alegre. À sua frente, um  grupo com dezenas de ciclistas bloqueia a passagem.
Estão pedalando em menor  velocidade. Aparentemente, alguma passeata ou movimento. Apressado,  buzina e pede passagem. Insiste. Não consegue abrir caminho. Após três  quarteirões, resolve desacelerar e tomar distância dos ciclistas. Tomar  um caminho alternativo, talvez?
Não, em pleno surto psicótico, decide pisar fundo e ATROPELAR TODOS.
Imagine you're inside a black Golf [car] in Porto Alegre. In front of you, a group of dozens of cyclists are blocking your way.
They're pedaling at a slower speed. Apparently, [it's] some [kind of] march or movement. In a hurry, [you beep your] horn and ask to get through. You're insistent. You cannot get a clear path through. After three blocks, [you] decide to slow down and head away from the cyclists. Take an alternative route, perhaps?
No – like a psycho, [you] decide to speed up and RUN OVER THEM ALL.
Reads: "It wasn't an accident". Image by tncbaggins. free to share.
Cristina Rodrigues, from the blog Somos Andando (We are walking) describes [pt] the “accident”:
Irritado, o dono do Golf preto acelerou e “varreu a rua”, como disse uma das participantes. Às 19h12min, jogou o carro para cima  da marcha. Alguns ciclistas foram diretamente atingidos, outros se  machucaram pela reação em cadeia: uma bicicleta foi derrubando outra.
This video, from Youtube user praqmelissa, with English subtitles, shows the exact moment of the ‘accident’ [update: the video has been taken down. We have replaced by the below, by Youtube user eddddddy]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4mfB1tRPM
Accident or Homicide?
There were about 100 cyclists participating in the march; 12 (other sources say 20) were hit and 8 of them had injuries and were taken to hospital. The police officer responsible for the investigation, Gilberto Almeida Montenegro, was harshly criticized by netizens for blaming [pt] the cyclists for the “accident”, accusing them of disrupting traffic and of committing a “grave mistake” in failing to warn authorities that they would be riding.
On Twitter, the revolt against the police officer and the driver's attitude was immense:
@JessyAntonielle: se foi “sem  intenção de matar” pq Ricardo José Neif ABANDONOU o seu carro após o  incidente? #massacriticapoa
@MarceloBranco: Del. Montenegro:  Q  foco na investigação einh? O crime NÃO foi cometido p ciclista. Alvará p  pedalar? http://glo.bo/dQ1nEk #massacriticapoa
@luciouberdan:Será q o delegado  Gilberto Almeida Montenegro d @policiacivilrs não entende q bicicleta é veículo, portanto ela é trânsito #MassaCriticaPOA
@tuliovianna :Polícia investiga  atropelamento de ciclistas : http://is.gd/f3mrHo Lesões culposas?! Fala sério! Isso é tentativa de homicídio doloso!
@JessyAntonielle: if it was “without intent to kill” why did Ricardo José Neif [the car driver] ABANDON his car after the incident? #massacriticapoa
@MarceloBranco: Chief of Police Montenegro:  Who is the focus of the investigation? The crime wasn't committed by the cyclists. Permission to ride? http://glo.bo/dQ1nEk #massacriticapoa
@luciouberdan: Doesn't the Chief of Police, Gilberto Almeida Montenegro of the @policiacivilrs [Civil Police] understand that a bicycle is a vehicle, therefore it's [part of the] traffic? #MassaCriticaPOA
@tuliovianna : Police investigate running over cyclists: http://is.gd/f3mrHo Culpable injuries?! Seriously! This is attempted murder!
There was no lack of criticism [pt] of the local media coverage of the incident, which treated it as a mere traffic accident. Lucio Uberdan, from the blog Brasil Autogestionário (Self-organized Brazil) comments [pt]:
Um movimento que propõe a substituição do uso do automóvel pela  bicicleta acaba sendo, neste contexto, uma “ação de inconsequentes”,  “quixotes” enfrentando “moinhos de vento” e portanto, nada mais lógico  de “acabar com a palhaçada” (talvez este tenha sido não só o pensamento  do motorista que causou o acidente, mas de muitos leitores de jornal).
Marcelo in the blog of the group Critical Mass, says [pt]:
Na esquina da José do Patrocínio com a Luiz Afonso, a  Massa Crítica de  Porto Alegre sofreu uma tentativa de ASSASSINATO, e  não se iluda quando  ler ACIDENTE na RBS e afins.
Bikes destroyed and scattered over the floor. Photo by Lucas Valente, used with author's permission
A report by Igor Natusch, from the blog Sul21 (South21) demonstrates [pt] that the running over of the cyclists was deliberate.
Helton Scheer de Moraes, in a testimony reproduced on the Critical Mass group's blog, was one of the first to be hit by the car and comments [pt]:
This video, recorded by the Youtube user guilhermeschroder shows the wounded after the incident:
A previous disagreement in which a small collision occurred, was the catalyst for the aggression. Soon after the first incident, the vehicle accelerated towards the cyclists from behind. After the assault, the vehicle fled.
The attacker's name is Jose Ricardo Neif, aged 47, who claimed to have been threatened and attacked by cyclists and accelerated the car to save his 15-year-old son and himself.
The Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul will prosecute [pt] him for “attempted murder, because it was a futile reason and the action made it difficult for the victims to defend themselves”. Ricardo Neif has a history of driving up streets the wrong way, driving on sidewalks and being extremely aggressive.
-It's because I'm from Porto Alegre. Cartoon by Kayser. Used with permission.
Cíntia Barenho concludes [pt]:
Enfim, minha solidariedade e minha  indignação a todos e todas que estavam no massa crítica de ontem e foram  brutalmente feridos. […] Vida longa a todos aqueles que buscam  uma melhor qualidade de vida e  alternativas  sustentáveis de  mobilidade urbana! Vida curta a todos os senhores do volantes…  criminosos no trânsito!
Lucas Valente has posted [pt] to his Facebook page several photos of injured people and destroyed bikes. The Twitter hashtags #MassaCritica, #MassaCriticaPOA (POA means Porto Alegre) and #naofoiacidente (no accident) are being used to spread news about the case.
The hashtag #MontenegroFacts was also created to criticize the attitude of the chief of police to criminalize the cyclists