'Instead of doctors, they send police to kill us': locked-down Rio faces deadly raids
Covid-19 quarantine has not stopped police from storming favelas, with 13 killed in the latest operation
The Guardian (UK)
Monday, May 18, 2020
Monday, May 18, 2020
Police operations and body bags are nothing new to Rio, where state police killed a record 1,810 people last year, nearly five a day. But with the city now in partial shutdown because of Covid-19, and citizens under orders to stay indoors, favela residents are voicing outrage that the police’s terrifying incursions into their communities have not been halted. Friday’s operation – which left 13 people dead – was the latest in a series of deadly police assaults which have continued despite the quarantine imposed by Rio’s hardline governor, Wilson Witzel, in mid-March. “People should be getting help, not getting shot at,” complained congresswoman Renata Souza, who said it was inhumane for such operations to continue during the pandemic.
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