The Brazilian police turned on the helicopter to attack the slums and killed 18 people, causing the public to protest

Polar news reporter Wang Liangliang Huang Jiaqi

Intern Zhao Wenbo

According to the Associated Press, on July 21, local time, when the Rio de Janeiro Police in Rio, the largest local slum, caused at least 18 people to die, becoming the most serious police operation in the city's recent casualties. The raid caused the local people to greatly dissatisfaction with police law enforcement.

Police carrying a gun in a civilian cave

According to the Rio police, the operation began before dawn on the 21st and ended around 4 pm local time. Nearly 400 police officers, including Rio de Janeiro's tactical police forces, participated in the operation and provided force support for four helicopters and ten bulletproof vehicles.

The Rio de Janeiro authorities said that the police raid the slum to crack down on a criminal group in a car steal, robbing banks, and frequently harassed nearby communities. A total of 18 people died in this operation, and 16 suspects were killed in the battle with the police, and a police officer and a woman were also killed in a melee.

According to videos circulating in local social media, there was a fierce gun battle between the police and the criminals. A police helicopter flew over the house at a low altitude and fired towards the target in a densely populated residential area.

The slums of this police operation are complex in 13 slums in northern Rio de Janeiro, with about 70,000 civilians. A study published in July 2020 in the Institute of Social and Economic Analysis of the Brazilian Social and Economic Analysis showed that nearly a quarter of them were African -American Brazilians.

At the scene of the incident, local residents were shouting slogans such as "we want peace", and protesting the government in the civilian area to fight violence and criminal organizations by raising banners and burn tires.

Residents burning tires protested by police in civilians

A Rio police spokesman said, "We also hope that the operation can be arrested in silence, but unfortunately they try to resist and make fire with the police."

Claudio Castro, Governor of Rio de Janeiro, sent a post on the social platform to make a deep condolences to the sacrificed police. Castro said: "I will continue to go all out to crack down on crimes. For the mission of ensuring the security of the country and the people, we will never shrink back."

At the same time, the Rio de Janeiro federal parliamentarian Talia Peter Luo expressed strong dissatisfaction with such actions. He posted on a social platform, "Don't perform such a group massacre operation. The residents are directly exposed to the action area, causing the blacks and slum people to fall innocently every day. "

Earlier, people from all over the country also protested against the police in slums. In May of this year, Rio Police caused 21 deaths and 7 injuries in another local slums' crackdown criminal group operation. There were many innocent civilians. Afterwards, the dissatisfaction and protest of the local people.

In the first half of this year, the Brazil Supreme Court launched a series of restrictions on the police in the Rio slums, which aims to reduce the police's [suspected sensitive words] and human rights violations. The court order can use fatal weapons only under the circumstances of all other means and necessary to protect life safety.

The bill was promulgated for the raid of the Jaca Kareji New slum in 2021. At that time, 28 people died.

(Picture Source: Associated Press)

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