Karmic Retribution: After Selling Turkish Government Tear Gas, Brazil Faces Own Protests

Call it karma. Brazil-based Condor Non-Lethal Technologies SA confirmed that it sold the tear gas that Turkish security forces are using against their own people in the 2013 protests that have rocked Istanbul and other cities, adding that the gas is "specifically designed to temporarily incapacitate people without causing them permanent damage or death".

Earlier this week, non-related protests rocked the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city.

Since May 26, Taksim Square in Istanbul has been the epicenter of protests against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, incumbent of 10 years, whose governing coalition had decided to develop the local Gezi Park into a strip mall, much to the protestation of local citizenry. In the weeks that have followed, the demonstrations have developed into a broader referendum on tone-deafness in parliament and the growing religiosity of secular Turkey. According to the Guardian, nearly 5,000 have been injured since the protests began, and thousands more have been detained.

In Brazil, thousands of protesters took to the street in rain to raise their voice against fare hikes in public transportation. Lead by the group Free Fare, the mostly young crowd of dissenters turned violent, damaging a metro station and setting fire to several buses in downtown. Twenty-five Paulistas were arrested in the most violent protest of the year. As in Turkey, tear gas was used to deter the crowds.

Independent of Condor, Brazil's Foreign Ministry confirmed that several Brazilian companies regularly export "non-leathal weaponry" to Turkey. They stopped short of condemning the alleged human rights violations in the middle eastern nation, noting that Brazil has a policy of not commenting on the internal affairs of other countries.

"In the same way that the Turkish authorities are not involved in the internal politics of Brazil, the Foreign Ministry is silent on the issues of Turkey," a spokesperson said in the statement, according to the Epoch Times.