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Hundreds of protesters marched through one of the fountains targeted on Friday rio More than 100 people were killed in de Janeiro’s deadliest police raid, prompting calls for Rio state Governor Claudio Castro to resign amid continuing outrage over the deadly operation.
Locals, politicians, activists, bereaved mothers who lost their sons in previous operations and people from other neighborhoods of Rio gathered to express their anger in Villa Cruzeiro, part of the Penha complex of favelas, where a few days earlier residents had laid out several bodies collected from a nearby green area after the raid.
According to police, at least 121 people, including four policemen, were killed in Tuesday’s operation. Rio’s public defender office says 132 people were killed.
“Coward, terrorist, murderer! His hands are dirty with blood,” said Anne Caroline dos Santos, 30, referring to Castro, a former presidential aide. jair bolsonaro and rival to leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Castro has accused the federal government of abandoning Rio in the fight against organized crime, a claim Lula’s administration denies.
Dos Santos came from Rocinha, Brazil’s largest favela, in the southern region of Rio, to express his outrage. Like many other protesters, he accused law enforcement of torture and extrajudicial killings.
,mothers Now they are struggling to retrieve the bodies of their sons and bury them,” he said, adding that he had lost a friend in the operation.
Many shops have reopened after being shuttered earlier this week, but there were still signs of recent events on the streets, including burned cars used as barricades against police entry into low-income neighborhoods.
Many were wearing white, which one protestor said symbolized their desire for peace, some with red hands printed on T-shirts. Others held signs reading: “Stop killing us” or stickers reading “Enough of the genocide.”
“this is outrageous brazil,” said Leandro Santiago, 44, who lives in Vila Cruzeiro and earns a living by riding his motorbike and making deliveries. “Nothing justifies it.”
Tuesday’s raid, carried out by about 2,500 police and soldiers, targeted the notorious gang Red Command in the Complexo de Alemão and Complexo da Penha favelas.
The stated objective of the operation was to capture the leaders and limit the territorial expansion of the Red Command, which in recent years has extended its control not only over the jungles but also across Brazil, including the Amazon rainforest.
The police raid led to firing and other retaliation by gang members, leading to chaos across the city.
Castro said on Tuesday that Rio was at war against “narco-terrorism”, a term echoed in the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in Latin America. He declared the operation successful.
The state government said those killed were criminals who had resisted the police.
But the death toll from the Rio police operation is the highest ever, drawing condemnation from human rights groups and the United Nations and an intense investigation by authorities. brazilian Supreme CourtProsecutors and lawmakers ordered Castro to provide detailed information about the operation.
Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes scheduled a hearing for November 3 in Rio with the state governor and the chiefs of the military and civilian police.
Much of the fury in Villa Cruzeiro on Friday was directed at Castro, with protesters calling him a “killer” and demanding his resignation or even jail.
“The governor said he was doing this operation to combat drug trafficking. But we need to find out who is financing it. We need policies that deal with corruption,” said Monica Benicio, a local councilwoman and widow of slain Councilwoman Mariel Franco.
“Killing youth in favelas is not public policy, it is a genocide,” he said.
While some in Brazil, particularly right-wing voters and politicians, applauded the operation against heavily armed gangs, others questioned whether it would achieve lasting results and argued that many of those killed were low-ranking and easily replaceable.
On Friday, the state government said that of the 99 suspects identified so far, 42 had outstanding arrest warrants and at least 78 had extensive criminal records.
But local newspaper O Globo said Rio de Janeiro’s public prosecutor’s office had not indicted any of the 99 named in the investigation supporting the massive operation.
At the protests, many condemned the state in which the bodies were found, at least one of which was decapitated, while others were reportedly found with puncture wounds or tied up.
Adriana Miranda, a 48-year-old lawyer at Friday’s demonstration said that even though the killed youths were suspected of participating in organized crime, they still had rights.
“Suspects should be investigated. There is a complete procedure established in the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure which should be followed,” he said. “The Constitution guarantees everyone’s rights.”