Social media footage 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 50 buses were commandeered to be used in the blockades, the city’s bus organisation, Rio Onibus, said.
After the most intense fighting subsided, a Reuters journalist saw police from a special operations unit rounding up dozens of shirtless men. Sobbing family members gathered outside a public hospital, attending to those injured.
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.
Rio’s favelas are poor, densely populated settlements woven through the city’s hilly oceanside terrain.
The operation on Tuesday was the largest ever targeting Comando Vermelho (Red Command), police said, and followed a year of investigation. Castro said authorities sought to serve 250 arrest and search warrants.
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 including pop star Kylie Minogue and four-time Formula One 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 10–21.
Reuters, AP
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