Rio de Janeiro Police Raid Kills Nearly 20

A police raid conducted in one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest densely-populated housing communities on Thursday resulted in at least 18 deaths, reports AP News. The community, Complexo do Alemão, was raided by nearly 400 police officers in an operation that lasted from before dawn to midday. The target was a group of car thieves and bank robbers, but along with 16 of these suspected criminals’ deaths, the militarized strategy involved firing from helicopters in a “massacre” which fatally wounded at least one bystander. One officer was also killed.

ABC News reports that civilians who tried to aid injured victims allegedly risked arrest.

An investigator with the police force, Ronaldo Oliveira, claimed that officers would have chosen to arrest suspects instead if they hadn’t been fired on. ABC News brings up speculation that, as with a similar case in 2021 which left 28 dead, the officer’s death may have been the “cause for subsequent abuse and summary executions.”

Protestors in the besieged residential area were seen “calling for peace and waving white cloths from their windows and rooftops,” reports ABC News.

The local government’s tough-on-crime stance has frequently been criticized for the deadly results of police operations, especially in populated civilian areas. Though Brazil’s Supreme Court tightened restrictions on the use of lethal force earlier this year, human rights advocates are adamant that the changes have not been enough.

Non-profit group Amnesty International called for investigations into the officers involved in Thursday’s raid, pleading on Twitter “Enough of so much brutality! THE FAVELA WANTS TO LIVE!”