FISHER: SECURITY BEEFED UP IN RIO
PROTESTS, UPHEAVAL MARK OPENING OF GAMES
The magnificent pageantry of the Opening Ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Games in the Maracana Stadium was more than matched by what was happening outside — mass protests, a boxer arrested for rape, the first positive doping test, and the country’s suspended leader holed up in the presidential palace.
On the famed Copacabana beachfront, thousands of noisy protesters kept a wary distance from a wall of armed civil and military police before the Olympic torch was due to be carried on one of its last legs before entering the stadium. But the crowds were so large that organizers sent the torch away from the beach and on a detour to its eventual destination in Maracana Stadium.
Such jostling between security, protesters and tourists is already the norm for these Games.
The Brazilians have deployed more than 85,000 police and soldiers to guard athletes, officials and spectators. Their heavily armed presence almost everywhere the Olympic community gathers may be outwardly reassuring, and may actually curb some petty crime. However, after a string of lethal attacks on soft targets in Europe, the overriding concern is that the Rio Games are particularly vulnerable because this is a country with almost no experience of terrorism or of radical Islam.
In addition to the forces on the ground, Brazil has installed a huge network of security cameras and drones to keep even tighter watch throughout the city and at Olympic venues, and have opened an international police co-operation centre aimed at tracking people of interest to authorities.
Despite such flashy security precautions there have been at least two beachfront swarmings this week by gangs of criminals who have stripped visitors of their belongings. As Brazil struggles through its worst depression since the 1930s, there has been a coincidental surge of violence in some of the perpetually lawless favelas and slums that are far back from the Olympic spotlight.
Such favelas are controlled by legendary drug gangs such as Comando Vermelho (the Red Command) and the breakaway organization, Terceiro Comando Puro (the Pure Third Command).
Arrayed against them are equally ruthless paramilitary police and military units such as the Batalhao de Operacoes Policiais Especiais ( BOPE) and the Batalhao de Policia de Choque (CHOQUE.) Such forces have been accused by human rights groups of operating death squads.
As nervous as the bloody turf disputes between the gangs and the gunfights between them and security forces make most Olympic visitors, Cariocas — as the people of Rio are known — are used to kidnappings, murder and mayhem. That’s why the threat of terrorism evokes the biggest fears, of citizens and security forces alike.
Whatever the actual threat level, as so often before, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has received lots of attention by creating a Portuguese language website — its rather transparent aim to recruit operatives in Brazil or others willing to travel here.
The only alleged plot to have been foiled so far has involved what sounded like a Keystone Kops style operation that included a dozen Brazilian citizens who claimed membership in a group called the Defenders of Shariah. Although they were said to have pledged their allegiance to ISIL, they have been widely derided here as inept terrorist wannabes.
A greater fear of terrorism experts is that radicals with ISIL connections from the Middle East or Europe or lone wolves who have been inspired by them may already be in Rio. Getting to Brazil is not difficult: as well as many flights via Europe, four direct jumbo jet flights from the Middle East and Turkey land every day in Rio or Sao Paulo. Terrorists could also take advantage of lax formalities at land border crossing in the weapons-smuggling havens that have long existed where Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina converge.
Fuelled by these mounting concerns about security and a last-minute $850-million emergency loan, the national government a few days ago called up thousands of military reservists to take over the airport- style weapons screening of everyone who enters Olympic venues from a private company that appeared unable to do the vital checks.
Despite Brazil’s own wretched security situation, the country has until now been spared the trauma of terrorism. Rio and the Olympic movement hope that it can avoid this global scourge for another fortnight.
But other shadows still linger over the Games.
The country is in the midst of a colossal political corruption scandal and suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is missing out on the Olympics.
Rousseff will be watching from the presidential palace in Brasilia, where she’s been holed up since being suspended in May on impeachment charges. She says on Twitter that she’ll still be rooting for Brazil even if she can’t attend in person.
The honour of kicking off the games will instead go to interim President Michel Temer, who said he expects to be loudly booed at Maracana Stadium.
Brazilian police also say they have jailed a Moroccan Olympic boxer on allegations he sexually assaulted two Brazilian women. In a statement, police say they arrested boxer Hassan Saada Friday for possible assaults on two Brazilian women who worked as waitresses in the Olympic Village.
And hours before the opening ceremony, the Greek Olympic committee announced the first positive doping test of the Rio Games.