At least 2,000 police officers patrolled this coastal city Sunday and Brazilian officials pledged to host a violence-free 2016 Olympics despite bloody drug gang shootouts that left 14 people dead.
An hours long firefight between rival gangs Saturday in one of the city’s slums killed at least 12 people, injured six and saw a police helicopter shot down and eight buses set on fire.
The images of the downed police helicopter “really shocked Brazilians, and now everyone is worried about what will happen with the Games,” said Nadine Matos, 21, who works at a hair salon a block from Copacabana Beach. “We need to tell the world where we stand so that people outside Brazil understand what measures we are taking and are not so worried when planning to come down here.”
For years, the police essentially abandoned the shantytowns, or favelas, that ring the city’s wealthier neighborhoods, following a policy that resembled containment more than enforcement. That allowed drug traffickers to create strongholds where violence is pervasive. And as the downing of the helicopter illustrated, the police have not done enough to slow the flow of weapons into the favelas.
Eduardo Paes, Rio’s mayor, speaking at a gathering in London on Monday, sought to allay security concerns. “We still have a lot to do, we have a long way to go and what happened this weekend showed that,” he said, adding, “We are sure by 2016 we will deliver the Games and hopefully in a way that the city will be more peaceful and secure for all our citizens.”
“We will do anything it takes and make all necessary sacrifices so we can clean up the mess that these people are imposing on Brazil,” President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters in Sao Paulo.
“When you have a conflict of this magnitude, the innocent people always pay the price.”
President Lula also promised that the federal government would provide an additional $58m (£35m) to deal with the violence and provide the police with a bulletproof helicopter.
The death toll from bloody clashes in Rio de Janeiro is up to 25 after authorities found more bodies.
The newly discovered victims include a young man found dead in a supermarket cart at the entrance to a slum that saw intense gang combat over the weekend. He was shot repeatedly and showed signs of having been tortured.
Image by anthony_goto.
