Rio girl attacked after party for Afro-Brazilian religion

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian police said Wednesday they are trying to identify two men who attacked an 11-year-old girl as she left a party at a center used by followers of Candomble, a syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion.

Kaylane Campos was walking down a Rio de Janeiro street with her grandmother Sunday when one of the two men threw a rock that hit her head, causing her to faint. She was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Ivanir dos Santos, a spokesman for a group that fights religious intolerance, said the attackers were holding Bibles and shouted "Satan" at Campos, who was wearing the long white dress typical of the Candomble faithful.

Followers of the religion frequently face hostility from Pentecostals who feel that Afro-Brazilian religions are a form of witchcraft and attack Candomble temples. Dos Santos said, however, that it was not known if the attackers belonged to a Pentecostal church.

Katia Marinho, the girls' grandmother, told the newspaper O Globo that her granddaughter will continue practicing Candomble despite the attack.

"It is all very frightening. One cannot live with so much discrimination," she said.