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Rio de Janeiro carnival 2010: seven-year-old samba queen cries

15 February 2010 20:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The attention proved too much for Rio de Janeiro’s seven-year-old samba queen yesterday when she burst into tears while controversially leading the carnival parade, APA reports quoting telegraph.co.uk web-page.
Julia Lira became the youngest drum corps queen in living memory, filling a role that is usually associated with sultry women and models.
Her appointment caused angry debate throughout Brazil. A judge had earlier overruled objections from a child’s right agency that said it was inappropriate for her to be the queen given the sexual overtones of the festival.
Julia tentatively led the Viradouro parade into the Sambodrome wearing a miniskirt composed of purple feathers and a sequinned halter top.
Her father, the president of Viradouro, took her by the hand and presented her to the 80,000 crowd. But as she was surrounded by photographers, television cameramen and reporters she cried.
Mr Lira said: "She cried because there were a lot of people on top of her."
After ten minutes of cooling down away from the cameras, the girl returned to her position at the front of the parade but was kept out of the spotlight. No more pictures of her were shown on television and it was unclear whether she completed the parade.
Marister Deniz, 60, a spectator, said: "She is too young to be a drum corps queen. A girl that size shouldn’t be thrust in such a role."
Tourism officials said almost 730,000 visitors arrived in Rio this year for the big party â€“ a 5 per cent increase over last year.
It’s the first Carnival since Rio was named as host to the 2016 Olympics, and officials have been working hard to show that the city, known for the drug-gang violence that pervades its slums, can safely host major events.