Grieving families have been mourning dozens of people killed during a lethal police operation against gang members in Rio de Janeiro, days before Brazil hosts the COP30 climate summit.
Local officials say around 60 people died in a massive raid in the city’s sprawling Alemao and Penha favelas, targeting the notorious drug-trafficking gang Comando Vermelho (Red Command).
About 40 bodies were lined up on the street. They were carried there by residents who went looking for their missing relatives after Tuesday’s operation.
Prince William is among the dignitaries due to attend Brazil in the coming days at the C40 global summit – part of the build up to COP30 – where he will hand out the 2025 Earthshot Prize.
Celebrities, including pop star Kylie Minogue and four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel, are also expected to feature.
Around 2,500 police and soldiers were involved in the operation on Tuesday, which started shootouts, left four officers dead and resulted in more than 80 arrests.
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The state government said 93 rifles and more than half a ton of drugs were also seized.
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Police in Rio have often conducted large-scale operations against criminal groups ahead of major events in the city, which hosted the 2016 Olympics, the G20 summit in 2024 and the BRICS summit in July.
Footage on social media showed fire and smoke rising from the two favelas as gunfire rang out.
Schools and a nearby university across the two neighbourhoods were closed.
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Suspected gang members blocked roads in northern and southeastern 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.
Rio’s state governor Claudio Castro praised the police raids, calling them the biggest such operation in the city’s history.
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But the United Nations Human Rights Office said it was “horrified” by the deadly police operation, and reminded authorities of their obligations under international human rights law.
Emerging from Rio’s prisons, the Red Command criminal gang has expanded its control in favelas in recent years.
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Rio has been the scene of lethal police raids for decades. In March 2005, some 29 people were killed in Rio’s Baixada Fluminense region, while in May 2021, 28 were killed in the Jacarezinho favela.
