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The Brazil police was involved in conducting of a raid operation on Wednesday. It targeted the criminal gangs based in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil which has left at least nine people dead as per the authorities. In an official statement, the Brazil police informed of receiving intelligence on a meeting amongst the gang leaders that was to take place for which the raid was conducted. The statement also mentioned that the police teams came under attack by the gang members following a clash in which nine out of the eleven suspects died of their injuries along with a policeman who was injured but is now in a stable condition.
Fiel and Du Leme, leaders of the Juramento & Chatuba neighbourhoods, were amongst those who were killed in the clash. It was reported that seven rifles, ammunitions, grenades and 44 pounds of drugs have been seized from the suspects by the police authorities.
This operation occurred in the exact favela complex, counting as the second-deadliest police operation in the city’s history, which had left 25 dead in May last year. It was reported a few days back that a raid conducted against the drug trafficking gangs had left 19 dead in the northeastern state of Bahia and 16 dead in the state of Sao Paulo.
Accusations on the Authorities
Dani Monteiro, Rio’s State legislator, called this raid a “massacre” by also criticizing the security policy of Claudio Castro, Rio’s State governor. These police operations have attracted criticism from the various rights group in Brazil.
Amnesty International, one of the rights groups, has alleged the recent Sao Paulo operation conducted by the police to be the clear case of seeking vengeance for the death of a 30-year-old special forces officer. He was shot dead on Thursday last week while on patrol in the port city of Guaruja. The police forces have also been accused of abusing, intimidating and torturing the residents of the favelas where such criminal gangs are based. Tarcisio de Freitas, Sao Paulo’s Governor, was also heavily criticised for “legimitizing police violence” .
The residents described the raid operation and the clash that followed as a scene from a “war zone” where the residents have to stay safe inside their home all day long. One resident spoke to TV Globo informing that this comes in way of their routine tasks like going to their business or taking their kids to school.
According to the Public Security Forum, a watchdog group, an average of 17 people a day were killed by the police in Brazil last year.
