Rio shocked by warlike police raid that left 25 dead
At least 25 people were killed in a police raid yesterday in what police and researchers are calling one of the deadliest police shootings in the history of this notoriously violent oceanside metropolis.
Shortly after dawn, police entered the sprawling favela called Jacarezinho, sending in bulletproof helicopters, armoured vehicles and dozens of heavily armed police officers to do battle in one of the strongholds of the powerful criminal gang, the Red Command. Police said the criminal group had been enticing children into its ranks.
The conflict dragged on for hours as residents huddled inside their homes, unable to leave. Images showed blood splashed across alleys and households, a room piled with bodies, and people scurrying across rooftops clutching rifles as blackclad police moved into the vast warren of squat brick houses.
By early afternoon, 25 people had been killed, including one police officer.
Even in a city long accustomed to extraordinary police violence, where authorities frequently wage warlike operations inside neighbourhoods under the control of criminal organisations, the death toll was shocking, showing the enduring grip of violence on Latin America’s largest country.
‘‘Really grim moment in Brazil,’’ said Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarape´ Institute, a Rio-based think tank that tracks trends in violence. ‘‘These shootings are obviously routine in Rio de Janeiro, but this is unprecedented, in that it’s the operation that has generated the largest number of deaths, ever.’’
He called it a ‘‘dangerous reminder of the persistence of police
violence in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil’’.
In a statement published to social media, police mourned the death of the officer, Andre Leonardo de Mello Frias. Police said the operation was launched based on ‘‘concrete intelligence information.’’
‘‘The criminals reacted forcefully,’’ police said in a statement. ‘‘Not only to flee, but with intent to kill. Unfortunately, the warlike scenario imposed by these criminal groups proved the importance of these operations so that they don’t grow stronger.’’
Police violence and crime has in recent years been one of Brazil’s most polarising political discussions. Police forces kill thousands of Brazilians every year, most black and poor. In 2019, police killed about 5800 people. The violent operations have been encouraged by a cadre of political leaders who have won recent elections running on a message that warlike tactics are necessary to curb crime and regain control of territories lost to gangs. ‘‘A cop who doesn’t kill isn’t a cop,’’ President Jair Bolsonaro once said.