POLICE IN Rio de Janeiro yesterday used armoured personnel carriers in an operation to seize control of a slum from drug traffickers who are behind a wave of violence to strike the picture-postcard city this week.
In scenes more reminiscent of a war zone than an international holiday resort, 160 heavily armed police officers borrowed six of the machinegun-mounted vehicles from the country’s marines in order to invade the Vila Cruzeiro favela, or shantytown.
The slum is a stronghold of the leadership of the Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, gang which has unleashed a string of attacks across Brazil’s second city since Sunday night.
The attacks are in response to the government’s campaign to take control of slums long dominated by drug gangs.
The Comando Vermelho, working with at least one of its main rivals, reportedly threatened to unleash “horror” to get the government to back down from its security policy.
Television helicopters carried live footage of officers engaging in running gun battles with gang members once the order was given to assault Vila Cruzeiro.
Several hours after the start of the police operation a Globo television network camera spotted dozens of heavily armed gunmen evading police efforts to encircle them in Vila Cruzeiro by fleeing into Rio’s rainforest.
Hospitals said 27 people had died since the violence started with the toll expected to rise once the operation in Vila Cruzeiro is concluded.
Schools were closed in many of the city’s poorer neighbourhoods with authorities advising residents of slums under assault by the police to remain indoors to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Several innocent bystanders have already died during the week.
Air traffic control ordered the closure of airspace over several parts of the city near the international airport for fear of aircraft being targeted.
Last year gang members shot down a police helicopter, killing three officers on board.
Eduardo Paes, the city’s mayor, told residents not to be “cowed” by the violence. He described it as “terrorism” and a doomed effort to blackmail the government into ending its policy of locating new police stations in the city’s shantytowns in order to break the decades-long grip exerted by drug gangs over some of Rio’s poorest communities.
Rio’s state government says all the city’s slums will be under its control in time for the 2014 World Cup soccer final to be held in the city, which will also host the 2016 Olympic Games.
Late yesterday the police put the toll of the week’s violence at 30, among them a 14-year-old girl.