At least 18 people have died during a police action against organized crime in a slum in Rio de Janeiro. A spokesman for the Brazilian police says that they are 16 suspected criminals, a resident of the favela (slum) Complexo do Alemão and a policeman.
About 400 officers were involved in the action. They were supported by four aircraft and ten armored vehicles.
The gang is involved in cargo thefts and bank robberies, police said, and planned to carry out raids on rival slums. “There are signs of major human rights violations and it may be an operation with the highest death toll in Rio de Janeiro,” the state’s prosecutor said.
After the raid, local residents were seen putting injured people in vehicles to transport them to hospital while police looked on.
According to Gilberto Santiago Lopes of the human rights organization Anacrim, the police refused to help. “The police don’t want to arrest them, they want to kill them. So when they’re hurt, they don’t think they deserve help.” Neighbors were furious and yelled at officers.
Police in Rio de Janeiro regularly conduct operations in the sprawling slums of the metropolis. President Jair Bolsonaro stands behind the crackdown on organized crime and previously said gangsters “should die like cockroaches”.