Brazil’s army returns to Rio favela amid clashes between gangs and police
BRAZIL - Army heads to Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro after schools, businesses and a major road closed during fighting between drug gang members and police
After almost a week of intense gun battles between rival drug gangsters and the police, Brazil’s army has been deployed to encircle the sprawling Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro. A spokesperson for military command said on Friday that airspace over the neighbourhood had been closed, and local media showed images of soldiers arriving in the community. Fighting flared up on Friday morning and a widely circulated video showed gunmen in shorts firing machine guns, rifles and pistols in an alleyway.
Piles of garbage were set on fire on Rocinha streets, and schools, businesses and a major road tunnel closed. Residents told the Guardian they have been cowering indoors, exchanging information via social media and WhatsApp. “Today we woke up early and there was a lot of conflict,” said Cleber Araujo, 37, who works in a community project in Rocinha. “Nobody will risk themselves on the street.”
Brazil’s minister of defence, Raul Jungmann, said that 950 soldiers would be deployed in and around the community. “You have a patient in intensive care,” Jungmann told reporters, according to the O Globo newspaper. He denied that the government had been slow to respond to a crisis that began at 6am last Sunday when dozens of gang members first invaded the favela. (The Guardian/Foto: theguardian.com)