Rio Police Raids Kill 64 Ahead Of Climate Conferences
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 28 (Reuters) – At least 64 people died on Tuesday. Rio de Janeiro’s deadliest police operation yet targeted a large gang days before the city hosts global events related to the United Nations climate summit known as COP30.
Police often conduct large-scale operations against criminal groups ahead of major events. RioHosting the 2016 Olympics, the 2024 G20 summit and the BRICS summit in July.
next week, Rio It hosts the C40 global summit, attended by mayors fighting climate change, and Prince William’s Earthshot Award, attended by celebrities including pop star Kylie Minogue and four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel.
The programming is part of preparations for COP30, the United Nations climate summit being held from November 10 to November 21 in Belem, Amazon.
Death toll confirmed Rio On Tuesday, Governor Claudio Castro was attacked more than twice, including four police officers. RioThis was the deadliest police operation ever.
MAURO PIMENTEL via Getty Images
“We are determined to fight narcoterrorism,” Castro wrote on social media about the operation involving 2,500 security personnel in the Alemao and Penha slum complexes near the city’s international airport.
Rio’s slums are impoverished, densely populated settlements dotted throughout the city’s rugged oceanfront landscape. Smoke billowed over the iconic skyline early Tuesday as gunfire rang out and gangs burned cars to slow the advance of armored vehicles.
After the most intense fighting ended, a Reuters reporter saw police from a special operations unit rounding up dozens of shirtless men. Crying family members gathered in front of a public hospital to attend to the injured.
Tuesday’s operation was described by the state government as the largest ever targeting the Comando Vermelho gang. While authorities attempted to obtain 250 arrest and search warrants, Castro confirmed that 81 people had been arrested.
The clashes disrupted the routines of dozens of schools and health facilities, rerouted bus routes and disrupted traffic in many neighborhoods in the state capital.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Additional reporting by Aline Massuca in Rio de Janeiro and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Brad Haynes, Rod Nickel, Nia Williams and Nick Zieminski)
