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At least 64 people are dead in Rio de Janeiro days ahead of the city hosting events related to the United Nations climate summit known as COP30. The police operation, Rio's deadliest, was targeting a major gang. Police have often conducted large-scale operations against criminal groups ahead of major events in Rio, which hosted the 2016 Olympics, the 2024 G20 summit and the BRICS summit in July. Next week, Rio hosts the C40 global summit of mayors tackling climate change and Prince William's Earthshot Prize, which will feature celebrities such as pop star Kylie Minogue and four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel. The programming is part of the run-up to COP30, the United Nations climate summit held in the Amazon city of Belem from November 10 to November 21. Four police officers among dead The death toll, which was confirmed by Rio Governor Claudio Castro on Tuesday and included four police officers, was more than twice as high as Rio's previous most deadly police operation. "We stand firm confronting narcoterrorism," Mr Castro wrote on social media about the operation, which he said involved 2,500 security personnel across the Alemao and Penha favela complexes, near the city's international airport. Rio's favelas are poor, densely populated settlements woven through the city's hilly oceanside terrain. Smoke rose over the city's iconic skyline early on Tuesday as gangs burnt cars to slow the advance of armoured vehicles while bursts of gunfire rang out. Police released videos showing suspects using drones armed with grenades against law enforcement officers. The footage also showed armed men fleeing into a forested area near the operation. After the most intense fighting subsided, police from a special operations unit started rounding up dozens of shirtless men. Sobbing family members gathered outside a public hospital where injured people were being treated. Police targeted Comando Vermelho gang The Rio state government called Tuesday's operation the largest ever targeting the Comando Vermelho gang. Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski said the federal government had not received any request for support from state authorities prior to the "bloody" operation, adding he had been following developments through media reports. The clashes disrupted the routines of dozens of schools and medical facilities, redirected bus routes, and snarled traffic across several neighbourhoods in the state capital. Mr Castro said there were 81 arrests as authorities sought to serve 250 arrest and search warrants in an operation targeting alleged drug kingpins and money-laundering operations. However, some civil society groups criticised the heavy casualties in a military-style operation. Carolina Ricardo, executive director at security think tank Sou da Paz, called it a tragedy. "This is a completely failed approach because it does not actually target the links in the drug production chain," she said. The operation included officers in helicopters and armoured vehicles and targeted the notorious Red Command in the sprawling low-income favelas of Complexo de Alemao and Penha, police said. Rights organisations condemn operation The police operation was one of the most violent in Brazil's recent history, with at least one human rights organisation calling for an investigation into each death. The state government said a large amount of drugs was also seized. An unknown number of people were also injured. César Muñoz, director of Human Rights Watch in Brazil, called Tuesday's events "a huge tragedy" and a "disaster". "The public prosecutor's office must open its own investigations and clarify the circumstances of each death," he said in a statement. The city's Education Department said 46 schools across the two neighbourhoods were closed, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro cancelled night classes and told people on campus to seek shelter. Suspected gang members blocked roads in northern and south-east Rio in response to the raid, local media reported. At least 50 buses were commandeered to be used in the blockades, the city's bus organisation, Rio Onibus, said. The operation on Tuesday followed a year of investigation into the criminal group, police said. Mr Castro, from the conservative opposition Liberal Party, said the federal government should be providing more support to combat crime — a swipe at the administration of leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Gleisi Hoffmann, the Lula administration's liaison with the parliament, agreed that coordinated action was needed but pointed to a recent crackdown on money laundering as an example of the federal government's action on organised crime. Emerging from Rio's prisons, the Red Command criminal gang has expanded its control in favelas in recent years. Rio has been the scene of lethal police raids for decades. In March 2005, 29 people were killed in Rio's Baixada Fluminense region, while in May 2021, 28 were killed in the Jacarezinho favela. While Tuesday's police operation was similar to previous ones, its scale was unprecedented, said Luis Flavio Sapori, a sociologist and public safety expert at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais. He argued that these kinds of operations are inefficient because they do not tend to catch the masterminds, but rather target underlings who can later be replaced. "It's not enough to go in, exchange gunfire, and leave," Mr Sapori said. "There's a lack of strategy in Rio de Janeiro's public security policy. "Some lower-ranking members of these factions are killed, but those individuals are quickly replaced by others." AP and Reuters
