Brazilian police raid on Rio drug trafficking gang leaves at least 64 people dead

The police operation was one of the most violent in Brazil’s recent history, with human rights organisations calling for investigations into the deaths.

A massive raid on a drug-trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday sparked shootouts that left at least 60 suspects and four police officers dead, officials 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.At least 81 suspects were arrested, while 93 rifles and more than half a ton of drugs were seized, the state government said, adding that those killed “resisted police action.”The operation was one of the most violent in Brazil’s recent history, with human rights organisations calling for investigations into the deaths.According to Rio’s governor, Claudio Castro, 60 criminal suspects were “neutralised” during the massive raid that he called the biggest such operation in the city’s history.Rio’s civil police said on X that four officers died in Tuesday’s operation. “The cowardly attacks by criminals against our agents will not go unpunished,” it said.An unknown number of people were wounded.Rights groups condemn the violenceThe United Nations’ human rights body said it was “horrified” by the deadly police operation, called for effective investigations, and reminded authorities of their obligations under international human rights law.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,” Muñoz said in a statement.Footage on social media showed fire and smoke rising from the two favelas as gunfire rang out. The city’s Education Department said 46 schools across the two neighbourhoods were closed, and the nearby 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 southeastern Rio in response to the raid, local media reported. At least 70 buses were commandeered to be used in the blockades, causing significant damage, the city’s bus organisation Rio Onibus, said.The operation on Tuesday followed a year of investigation into the criminal group, police said.Gov. 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.Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and several ministers met in response to the operation on Tuesday afternoon. Chief of Staff Rui Costa requested an emergency meeting in Rio on Wednesday, with him in attendance as well as Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski.