A Guerra do Pente

Overview

Curitiba, PR, December 8, 1959; at around five o'clock in the afternoon, Military Police sub-lieutenant Haroldo Tavares enters the Bazar Centenário, Praça Tiradentes, to buy a comb. He chooses one, finds it expensive and demands an invoice. The store owner, Amhad Najar, argues and they end up fighting. The warrant officer leaves the fight with a fractured leg. Outside the store, the people who were watching the fight and the fight rebel, destroy the merchant's store and go to other stores in the square. The police cannot control the situation. Late at night, a truce: the population goes to sleep, gathering strength for the following days, when the situation becomes unsustainable. The police withdraw from the streets, the Army begins to act and, on the tenth, puts the tanks on the streets.