Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva mentioned Tuesday that the police operation in opposition to a strong prison faction in Rio that left 121 useless was “a bloodbath.”
“There was a bloodbath, and I feel it is necessary to confirm the situations below which it occurred,” Lula mentioned within the Amazon metropolis of Belem throughout an interview with worldwide information companies, together with AFP.
The police raid final week in opposition to the Purple Command drug trafficking gang noticed hundreds of officers battle closely armed males wearing camouflage, who dropped explosives on police from drones.
“Drones dropping bombs is now a pattern utilized by closely armed prison teams,” Carlos Photo voltaic from the Royal United Companies Institute instructed BBC Information.
Rafael Soares, a journalist protecting crime in Rio, instructed BBC Information Brasil final week that the Purple Command had been on the offensive in Rio lately, reclaiming territory it had misplaced to its rivals, First Capital Command.
Police footage launched by native media exhibits members of the gang gearing up for the battle, with dozens streaming right into a forested space the place they clashed with elite safety forces, and the place most of the our bodies had been discovered the subsequent day. BBC Information verified a number of movies exhibiting dozens of our bodies specified by a row in a market space of Rio, in its northern Penha district.
PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP through Getty Pictures
The battle uncovered Rio de Janeiro’s persistent safety woes and divisions on tips on how to deal with them.
Whereas rights activists have denounced harrowing scenes of useless our bodies lined up on the street, surveys confirmed most of the metropolis’s crime-weary residents supported the operation.
Felipe Curi, the top of Rio’s Civil Police power instructed reporters Friday that police had up to now recognized the our bodies of 99 “criminals” among the many useless — 42 of them topic to arrest warrants and 78 with in depth prison information.
Amid criticism that his administration is just too lenient on crime, Lula mentioned on X Friday that he had submitted a invoice to parliament proposing a minimal 30-year jail sentence for gang members.
Silvia Izquierdo / AP 
A photographer who witnessed the aftermath of the operation instructed the BBC of how residents got here again with mutilated our bodies of those that had died.
The our bodies “saved coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45,” Bruno Itan instructed BBC Brasil. He mentioned the our bodies included these of law enforcement officials.
One of many our bodies had been decapitated — others had been “completely disfigured,” Itan mentioned. Many additionally had what he says had been stab wounds.
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