Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro attends a sanction ceremony of the new telecommunications Law at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil October 8, 2019. Picture: REUTERS / ADRIANO MACHADO
His death, in a state where killings by police have climbed 16% this year, according to government figures, is being investigated by Rio prosecutors. “An officer never has the objective of killing,” said Fabio Barucke, operational head of the civil police. “But we have a responsibility to defend ourselves.”
“The police feel authorised to kill,” said Marcelo Freixo, a congressman from Rio and veteran researcher on violence and organised crime. “The discourse stimulates violence.” Recent nationwide figures aren’t available, but killings by police have also climbed in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, and other major urban areas.
But local and international activists have for decades decried excessive force and outright executions by police. The problem predates Bolsonaro. The 7th operates “in very complex geography”, said Rogerio Figueredo, commander of Rio’s military police force. “There are various communities with several criminal factions all disputing the territory.”According to a police report reviewed by Reuters, Dos Santos’s death may have been accidental. Officers, the report said, returned fire after being shot at by suspects. Dos Santos died because of “intervention by a state agent”.
That culture is often in sharp relief in Rio. Clashes are as much a part of the landscape as its verdant hillsides and dramatic juxtaposition of rich and poor. Shoot-outs and the hum of police helicopters are a daily reality for many in a state where haphazard planning led slums and wealthy neighbourhoods to coexist in a dense urban tangle.
Earlier this decade, as Rio prepared to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, locals in Sao Goncalo complained that yet more criminals were moving in because of a police clean-up near beaches, hotels and sporting venues. When a deep recession took root shortly after, crime worsened across Brazil. In 2017, a record 64,000 murders were reported nationwide, more than in any other country.
On Salema’s old beat, police this year began struggling with an internecine war within the local branch of the Comando Vermelho, or CV, one of Brazil’s most powerful drug gangs. After one CV boss in April killed a rival, fighting between factions spilled onto the streets. Gun battles erupted across Sao Goncalo, and schools, hospitals and bus routes shut down.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: IOL - 🏆 46. / 51 Read more »
Source: TheCitizen_News - 🏆 6. / 75 Read more »
Source: IOL - 🏆 46. / 51 Read more »
Source: eNCA - 🏆 49. / 51 Read more »
Ecuador president orders curfew, military control as protests turn violentEcuador President Lenin Moreno on Saturday ordered the capital Quito and surrounding areas placed under curfew and military control, as an 11th day of deadly protests against government austerity measures roiled the city.
Source: SowetanLIVE - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »
Ecuador president orders curfew, military control as protests turn violentEcuador President Lenin Moreno on Saturday ordered the capital Quito and surrounding areas placed under curfew and military control, as an 11th day of deadly protests against government austerity measures roiled the city.
Source: TimesLIVE - 🏆 28. / 59 Read more »