As was shown on Thursday, there is plenty of anger for Dani Alves at the moment. The former Barcelona and Sevilla defender, who was released on bail on Monday afternoon, is currently awaiting the outcome of his rape conviction appeal, which was launched earlier this month.
In Brazil, there are many that strong detest because of this episode, and this is especially the case for those in Juazeiro, his hometown. The 40-year-old has a statue there, but over the last few months, there have been increasing calls for it to be removed.
Student and activist Manuella Tyler Medrado said in an interview with EFE (via Marca) that the permanence of Alves’ statue questions the “value and dignity of women.”
“We have to form a society where rape culture is not normalised. This is a great opportunity to make it clear that sexual crimes have to be repudiated.”
For now, the statue of Alves remains up, although it has been vandalised on numerous occasions. The local government in Juazeiro is certainly under increasing pressure to remove it.