Photographer of the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo says he has been threatened by the Universal Church security

Luiz Carlos Gomes, photographer of the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, in São Paulo, says he has been threatened in the early hours of last Friday 14th  by the security of the Universal Church. Gomes was photographing the front of the temple accompanied by the driver of the newspaper.

According to the photographer, he was taking the pictures from the sidewalk when he heard from one of the guards: "You can’t shoot here." Gomes did not stop and one of the guards opened the gate and went toward the photographer with his hand inside the coat, pretending to be armed. The security would have said: "I will shoot the car if you do not leave here now."

Gomes approached a police car that was on the street and reported what happened. The photographer would have heard of the police: "Yeah, sorry buddy, but I can’t do anything. The guys are the eleven [11th Police District], they are all police ".

The journalist and the driver of the newspaper went to the 11th Police District of São Paulo and reported the event.

According to the journalist, the clerk did not mention that a police car was in the place. But, due to the insistence of Gomes, they added the information.

The Press office of Universal Church said, "the board has not spoken about the matter yet."

The same newspaper Folha de S. Paulo has published in 2007 a report about the conglomerate of companies that belongs to the Universal Church. Over one hundred actions were afterwards filed by the followers of the Universal Church against the newspaper. The author of the report, Elvira Lobato, has won the Esso Prize, the most prestigious brazilian prize for journalism, in the following year. Early this month, ten members of the Universal Church were charged of money laundering.