Photos:Trans woman beaten, stripped,shaved & disfigured in police custody.

 Before last Sunday, every photo available online of Verônica Bolina, including the hundreds on her public Instagram account, showed a woman who paid special attention to how her face and body looked.

But in a photo that went viral this week, Bolina’s face is so disfigured and swollen she’s hardly recognizable. In the photo, the transgender woman is shown sitting on the ground with her breasts exposed, hands cuffed behind her back, and her feet chained together while police officers stand around her. Her long hair is gone.
According to various reports, Verônica Bolina suffered the brutal beating at the hands of military police after being arrested in São Paulo on April 10 for attempting to murder her elderly neighbor. The widely shared photos have sparked a social media movement in Brazil: #somostodasVerônica, or “We are all Verônica.” A Facebook page of the same name has even started sharing artwork inspired by Veronica´s photos before and after the attack. The most popular artwork is a black and white drawing by Vitor Teixeira.

“Those photos were shocking because of the violence, and because the police didn’t respect her gender identity,” said Alessandra Ramos, an LGBT activist in Brazil who says she has been detained by police before. “A trans woman was not respected. That brought rage into LGBT activism.”

Police claim the incident started when Bolina started masturbating in a jail cell, which prompted cellmates to attack her, according to media reports. The jailer reportedly entered the cell to try to contain the situation and was attacked by Bolina, who allegedly tried to bite off his ear.