Catholics marching against abortion, homosexual agenda attacked by violent mob (VIDEO)

by Matthew Hoffman, Latin America Correspondent

January 23, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A group of Brazilian Catholics who gathered last week to march through the streets of Curitiba in the state of Parana to protest abortion and homosexual ideology were harassed, spat upon, and physically assaulted by a mob of leftist militants.

Members of the Plinio Correa de Olivera Institute, which is regarded as the successor group to Brazil's Tradition, Family, and Property, organized the peaceful Crusade for the Family.  They dressed in their traditional garb indicating their group's affiliation.  Organizers say that as they walked through the streets they "received warm support from the people of Curitiba."

However, their way was impeded by a large and hostile crowd, whose frantic screams and threats developed into a violent attack on one of the marchers, resulting in his hospitalization, according to organizers. When the group tried to exit the area at a local bus stop platform, they were surrounded by the mob and prevented from leaving for a time.

Videos of the harassment were filmed by the perpetrators themselves, and two of them found their way onto the blog of Milton Alves, a former communist who is now a member of the socialist Worker's Party that currently holds power at the federal level in Brazil. Alves acknowledged his presence and expressed his support for the counter-protesters, stating, "I was there and I saw everything. I'm on the side of democracy and against the TFP."

The video shows homosexual and other militants yelling, pushing, and making obscene and threatening gestures at the marchers.  At one point, the marchers and their harassers pass by what appear to be local police, who do nothing to intervene.

A second video, shot by the Plinio Correa de Oliveira Institute, shows counter-protesters spitting on and ultimately throwing an object at the back of a marcher's head, drawing blood.  In at least one case, a leftist militant held up a sign encouraging cars to run over the marchers.

According to a blog associated with the Plinio Correa de Oliveira Institute, "The marchers, at the end of the campaign, met and prepared to finish the campaign when the homosexual militants approached them and sought to impede their exit. They began a series of verbal and even physical attacks, which for one of the marchers, led to the hospital."

The Institute's affiliate in the United States, which has retained the name of Tradition, Family, and Property, has suffered numerous attacks by pro-abortion and pro-gay protesters during their demonstrations, which they have documented in a recent video of their own.