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More than 20 people, including an officer, died this Thursday in a confrontation between the Rio de Janeiro Police and suspected drug traffickers, in the Jacarezinho favela. The local press assures that this is the deadliest police raid in the state. The shooting turned the impoverished neighborhood into a battlefield and was rejected by human rights groups.
The intense armed confrontation began early this Thursday in Jacarezinho, one of the most depressed and violent communities in Rio de Janeiro, when around 200 police officers launched an operatic against an alleged gang of drug traffickers.
Local television images showed the alleged criminals trying to escape through the roofs of the houses, while the Police cornered them with helicopters that flew over their heads and surrounded the place in armored vehicles.
The shooting forced hundreds of civilians to take refuge in their homes. According to the authorities, 25 people died, of them 24 were suspected drug traffickers and one was a police officer. In addition, at least five people were injured and 10 suspects were arrested.
The bullets even hit a light rail car and two passengers were injured by broken glass in a window, the fire department said.
The police pointed out that the raid was directed at a gang of drug traffickers, accused of homicides, robberies, kidnappings of SuperVia trains, and the recruitment of children to work in the local drug trade.
The operation was called Exceptis and, according to the Civil Police, it was the result of intelligence work. The operation was coordinated by the Police Department for the Protection of Children and Adolescents (DPCA).
At a press conference, the authorities showed an arsenal of seized weapons: six assault rifles, 15 pistols, a machine gun, 14 grenades and a round of artillery ammunition.
Deadliest raid in years in Rio, following reports of police abuse
This was the deadliest police operation in at least 16 years, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which has suffered for decades from drug-related violence in poor neighborhoods known as favelas.
“This is one of the highest death toll in a police operation in Rio, surpassing 19 in the Complexo do Alemão slum in 2007, except we didn’t lose one of our own then,” said police chief Ronaldo Oliveira.
These events occurred after the Supreme Court of Justice prohibited this type of police action in 2020, after a series of alleged abuses by the uniformed officers that caused the death of at least 65 people, at a time when the state was in confinement for the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Civil Police, which is the one that should use intelligence and planning, was the author of this massacre by killing more than 20 people in an operation, in a disastrous action that was carried out with the aim of dismantling gangs of young people who they robbed the trains, but that turned into a revenge operation, a killing operation, “he said in reference to the death of the uniformed man, Silvia Ramos, coordinator of the Network of Public Security Observatories.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for a comprehensive and independent investigation into Thursday’s deaths and noted that Rio de Janeiro prosecutors have a constitutional obligation to supervise the Police and carry out criminal investigations into cases of excessive use of force. .
According to HRW, the Rio Police killed 453 people and at least four policemen died in these types of operations during the first three months of this year, despite the high court ruling that prohibits operations in the communities during the health emergency. except in “absolutely exceptional cases”.
With Reuters, EFE and local media
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source https://pledgetimes.com/rio-de-janeiro-dozens-of-dead-leave-the-deadliest-police-operation-in-years/
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