Brazilian police raids leave at least 45 dead in a week

[Judi Lynn]

Story by Lyric Li • 46m ago

Police raids in Brazil have killed at least 45 people across multiple states in about a week, sparking concerns over police violence, as law enforcement officials step up operations against gangs.

In Rio de Janeiro, 10 people were killed on Wednesday, including two suspected drug-trafficking kingpins, according to Brazil’s state news agency. Two officers were injured by armed assailants in the Vila Cruzeiro favela, or slum area, in the north of the city, where security forces gathered to bust a planned meeting of gang leaders based on intelligence tipoffs.

“We went there to arrest them, but they fought back and ended up dead,” Marco Andrade, a spokesman for the military police, said in a televised statement.

Andrade said they returned fire only after the suspects fired shots first. Most of the officers who participated in the operation didn’t wear body cameras despite a government push for the use of surveillance equipment aimed at improving accountability and reducing abuse.

. . .

Former president Jair Bolsonaro backed harsher tactics against criminal gangs and said in 2019 that criminals should “die in the street like cockroaches.” Under Bolsonaro, Rio police sent armored cars, snipers and bulletproof helicopters into the favelas, even after the country’s supreme court ordered Rio police to restrict violent raids in 2020.

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/brazilian-police-raids-leave-at-least-45-dead-in-a-week/ar-AA1eJ7GO