Heloísa Ferdinandt Aug 26, 2013:

Culpa Parece que acusam os políticos de desencadearem/incentivarem/provocarem abusos durante tumultos de massa. Pelo que temos aqui, não se sabe se os abusos foram contra participantes ou provocados pela ação da multidão. Mas concordo que a construção deixa a frase confusa.

Vidomar (X) Aug 26, 2013:

Paulinho Please take a look at the second entry posted by Heloisa. The politicians were accused of causing/taking part of the riots.

Paulinho Fonseca Aug 26, 2013:

Hello there.
My suggestion:

Os políticos foram indiciados sob o uso desproporcional/abusivo de força contra os manifestantes/a manifestação.

Vidomar (X) Aug 26, 2013:

My last try As far as I can see, the verb CHARGE really refers to money, to fines those politicians had to pay. So, the translation might be: ... e 27 políticos receberam multas desproporcionais por participarem de (ou incitarem) revoltas populares...
This would sound quite weird in the USA, but I think that the text refers to facts that happened in Jamaica, right?

Vidomar (X) Aug 26, 2013:

Another possibility ... e políticos sofreram acusações injustas de incitar / participar em revoltas populares...

Vidomar (X) Aug 26, 2013:

Prepositions This is the idea that first occured to me, but I put it aside because politicians are more frequently seen trying to end mass riots (frequently by the use of force) than starting them. Besides, in this case the preposition ON would not be used and instead of the preposition OF we would have FOR , right? Lets see if some native come help us with that.

Heloisa Xavier (asker) Aug 26, 2013:

Explanation The idea of the text is that these politicians actually started the manifestation. It is like they were charged (acusados) (on disproportionate charges - maybe "quantias desproporcionais"?) for having participated on these mass riots? How does that sound to you?

Vidomar (X) Aug 26, 2013:

Possible translation The original text is still a bit confuse to me. But I think that, in free translation, this is the general idea:
... e 27 políticos foram acusados de uso abusivo de força (policial) contra manifestantes...

Heloisa Xavier (asker) Aug 26, 2013:

More context Michael Henry was arrested, and 27 politicians have been charged on disproportionate charges of mass riots, for clashes that took place between police and protesters during a demonstration in June 2011.

Vidomar (X) Aug 26, 2013:

It sounds a little bit weird. Could you please provide some more context? Lets say, the paragraph were the sentence is.