Over 100 dead in Espirito Santo

BRAZIL - More than 100 people have been reported killed in violence and looting during a six-day strike by police in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo, with schools and businesses closed and public transportation frozen. The army mobilized airborne troops and armored vehicles on Thursday to reinforce the roughly 1,200 soldiers and federal police trying to contain the chaos in Espirito Santo, a coastal state north of Rio de Janeiro. Most of the violence was centered in Vitoria, the state capital and a wealthy port city ringed by golden beaches and filled with mining and petroleum companies. Security officials did not respond to requests for more information about who they believe is doing the killing and details on the victims. Police in Espirito Santo are demanding a pay rise amid an economic downturn that has hammered public finances in Brazil, with many states struggling to ensure even basic health, education and security services. There are fears such strikes could spread to other cashstrapped states that are not paying police and other public servants on time. Luiz Pezao, governor of Rio de Janeiro state, one of Brazil’s most indebted, has already warned federal officials he may urgently need the backing of troops or federal police soon. There are rumors of a pending police strike in Rio, a tourist hub that in three weeks will host one of the globe’s biggest Carnival celebrations, which draws partygoers from around the globe. Security officials have denied any such stoppage is planned. In Espirito Santo, soldiers patrolled abandoned streets in downtown Vitoria, stopping and frisking the occasional pedestrian Soldiers patrol the streets of Vitoria, Espirito Santo.

(Photo: globo) against shuttered storefronts. State officials said they needed hundreds more federal troops and members of an elite federal police force to help establish order and make up for the absence of some 1,800 state police who normally patrol Vitoria’s metropolitan area. “The Army’s involvement in Espirito Santo is temporary. It is here to make government negotiations possible and bring peace to the population. We are not going to replace the police,” General Eduardo Villas Boas said on Twitter. Representatives of the striking police, including some of the officers’ wives, met with state officials on Wednesday to demand that salaries be doubled for every category of officer. The union said its members have not received a raise in four years. Monthly pay for an officer starts at 2,643 reais ($848), according to Corporal Thiago Bicalho, a spokesman for striking police. (Reuters)