Leila Pereira, president of Palmeiras, will sue the fans who painted graffiti on one of the walls of the club’s headquarters for slander and defamation. The act of vandalism took place in the early hours of Wednesday, 21st, after the Alviverde team’s defeat to Novorizontino, 4-0, in the Campeonato Paulista. Among the graffiti, the phrase “Leila, your business is stealing” was written, suggesting reckless management on the part of the Palmeiras executive.
The Civil Police have already identified four men who participated in the action. THE Estadão found that among them is a fan who has records of episodes of violence between organized fans in his history. The police report identified the participation of four people.
Security cameras installed in the upper part of Allianz Parque, on Rua Palestra Itália, recorded the presence of the individuals, who were dressed in cold weather clothing and kept their faces covered while they removed the arena’s protective fence to carry out the vandalism. The spray-painted messages also included criticism of the cast and coach, with phrases such as “Where’s the planning”, “shameless team”, “Abel’s magic is over” and “2025 again”.
According to the intelligence work of the 6th Police Station for the Suppression of Offenses of Sports Intolerance (Drade), the participation of a fifth person was confirmed through analysis of the images. The investigation also identified a vehicle used by the perpetrators to escape towards Rua Caraíbas after a Military Police vehicle approached.
Palmeiras registered the incident as an environmental crime of graffiti against a building or urban monument and is considering prosecuting those responsible for the act of vandalism. Tagers will be excluded from Avanti if they are part of the fan partner program and will have their CPFs blocked if they are registered in the ticket sales system for the team’s games as home team. The damaged wall has now been restored and the inscriptions removed.
The 4-0 defeat by Novorizontino in Novo Horizonte was the worst suffered by Palmeiras since the Portuguese Abel Ferreira took charge of the team, in October 2020. The Alviverde team had not lost by four goals in almost 11 years.
Palmeiras is in third place behind Paulistão, with nine points after four games, and will play again on Saturday, when they play a classic with São Paulo, at Arena Barueri.
*Estadão Content
