The police deployed ten vehicles to the Embraer plant’s gate and, while the assembled workers voted for a strike to demand a real pay rise and the maintenance of their rights, José Dantas Sobrinho, a leader of the Metalworkers’ Union of São José dos Campos and Region, and Ederlando Carlos da Silva, a militant from Luta Popular (“Popular Struggle”, a movement for housing), were beaten and arbitrarily arrested by the cops. The police are trying to charge them with corporal lesion and organised crime.

They were taken to the Federal Police station and, in the parking lot of the station, they were kept in the vehicles for over an hour, in a clear attempt at intimidating and breaking the activists.

The Antifascist Black Metal Network adds its voice to those who demand the immediate release of José Dantas Sobrinho and Ederlando Carlos da Silva and stand in solidarity with the Embraer workers. Fighting is a right – striking is a right! International solidarity points the way!