Brazil’s president requires investigation after 121 killed in police operation towards gang: “There was a bloodbath”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva mentioned Tuesday that the police operation towards a strong prison faction in Rio that left 121 lifeless was “a bloodbath.”

“There was a bloodbath, and I believe it is essential to confirm the situations beneath 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 towards the Crimson 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 informed BBC Information.

Rafael Soares, a journalist protecting crime in Rio, informed BBC Information Brasil final week that the Crimson 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 displaying dozens of our bodies specified by a row in a market space of Rio, in its northern Penha district.

The battle uncovered Rio de Janeiro’s continual safety woes and divisions on methods to sort out them.

Whereas rights activists have denounced harrowing scenes of lifeless 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 drive informed reporters Friday that police had to this point recognized the our bodies of 99 “criminals” among the many lifeless — 42 of them topic to arrest warrants and 78 with intensive 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.

A photographer who witnessed the aftermath of the operation informed 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 informed 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.