SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Police officers carry out a deadly raid at the Jacarezinho favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on May 6, 2021. (Photo: Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images)
'This Was a Massacre': Brazilian Police Kill Two Dozen in Deadliest Favela Raid in Rio's History
"It's extermination—there's no other way to describe it," said one Brazilian researcher.
May 07, 2021
More than 100 heavily armed Brazilian police officers stormed a sprawling Rio de Janeiro favela Thursday and killed at least two dozen people, a raid that human rights activists, researchers, and journalists described as the deadliest such police atrocity in the city's history.
The hourslong operation, purportedly aimed at drug traffickers in the poverty-stricken Jacarezinho favela, ultimately left 25 people dead, including one police officer. Horrific video footage and images posted to social media in the wake of the raid--which was carried out despite a court order against such incursions during the Covid-19 pandemic--show favela residents surveying rooms, hallways, and alleys streaked with blood.
"It's extermination--there's no other way to describe it," Pedro Paulo Santos Silva, a researcher at Rio's Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship, told The Guardian. "This was a massacre."
(Warning: the following footage is disturbing)
\u201cUma casa invadida e esse eh o resultado\u201d— Joel Luiz Costa (@Joel Luiz Costa) 1620320695
"Really grim moment in Brazil," Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarape Institute, a Rio-based think tank, said in an interview with the Washington Post. "These shootings are obviously routine in Rio de Janeiro, but this is unprecedented, in that it's the operation that has generated the largest number of deaths, ever."
Brazilian lawmaker David Miranda, who grew up in Jacarezinho, called the deadly police raid "a tragedy, a slaughter authorized by Claudio Castro," Rio's governor.
"Jacarezinho is my origin, it is the favela that created me," said Miranda. "No person born outside the favela can know what that is. Brazilian institutions insist on disrespecting and marginalizing the favela."
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, Miranda's husband, wrote on Twitter that he has "seen probably two dozen videos that are way too horrifying to publish: police enter homes with full force and violence, and then execute people as they lay on the ground, shooting them 10-15 times each in the head."
"It's an atrocity what happened today," Greenwald added.
Brazil suffers one of the highest rates of police killings in the world, and the nation is currently led by a far-right president who campaigned on the promise to "give the police carte blanche to kill." According to Human Rights Watch, Rio law enforcement officers killed 453 people during the first three months of 2021.
"They say there is no death sentence in Brazil. Except if you live in a favela," said Marilia Correa, a Latin America historian and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan's Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies. "In this case, the police can just march in, kill dozens of people, and call it a day. This is appalling, revolting, outrageous. They have no right."
Jurema Werneck, executive director of Amnesty International Brazil, said in a statement Thursday that "the number of people killed in this police operation is reprehensible, as is the fact that, once again, this massacre took place in a favela."
"It's completely unacceptable that security forces keep committing grave human rights violations such as those that occurred in Jacarezinho today against residents of the favelas, who are mostly Black and live in poverty," said Werneck. "Even if the victims were suspected of criminal association, which has not been proven, summary executions of this kind are entirely unjustifiable."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
More than 100 heavily armed Brazilian police officers stormed a sprawling Rio de Janeiro favela Thursday and killed at least two dozen people, a raid that human rights activists, researchers, and journalists described as the deadliest such police atrocity in the city's history.
The hourslong operation, purportedly aimed at drug traffickers in the poverty-stricken Jacarezinho favela, ultimately left 25 people dead, including one police officer. Horrific video footage and images posted to social media in the wake of the raid--which was carried out despite a court order against such incursions during the Covid-19 pandemic--show favela residents surveying rooms, hallways, and alleys streaked with blood.
"It's extermination--there's no other way to describe it," Pedro Paulo Santos Silva, a researcher at Rio's Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship, told The Guardian. "This was a massacre."
(Warning: the following footage is disturbing)
\u201cUma casa invadida e esse eh o resultado\u201d— Joel Luiz Costa (@Joel Luiz Costa) 1620320695
"Really grim moment in Brazil," Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarape Institute, a Rio-based think tank, said in an interview with the Washington Post. "These shootings are obviously routine in Rio de Janeiro, but this is unprecedented, in that it's the operation that has generated the largest number of deaths, ever."
Brazilian lawmaker David Miranda, who grew up in Jacarezinho, called the deadly police raid "a tragedy, a slaughter authorized by Claudio Castro," Rio's governor.
"Jacarezinho is my origin, it is the favela that created me," said Miranda. "No person born outside the favela can know what that is. Brazilian institutions insist on disrespecting and marginalizing the favela."
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, Miranda's husband, wrote on Twitter that he has "seen probably two dozen videos that are way too horrifying to publish: police enter homes with full force and violence, and then execute people as they lay on the ground, shooting them 10-15 times each in the head."
"It's an atrocity what happened today," Greenwald added.
Brazil suffers one of the highest rates of police killings in the world, and the nation is currently led by a far-right president who campaigned on the promise to "give the police carte blanche to kill." According to Human Rights Watch, Rio law enforcement officers killed 453 people during the first three months of 2021.
"They say there is no death sentence in Brazil. Except if you live in a favela," said Marilia Correa, a Latin America historian and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan's Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies. "In this case, the police can just march in, kill dozens of people, and call it a day. This is appalling, revolting, outrageous. They have no right."
Jurema Werneck, executive director of Amnesty International Brazil, said in a statement Thursday that "the number of people killed in this police operation is reprehensible, as is the fact that, once again, this massacre took place in a favela."
"It's completely unacceptable that security forces keep committing grave human rights violations such as those that occurred in Jacarezinho today against residents of the favelas, who are mostly Black and live in poverty," said Werneck. "Even if the victims were suspected of criminal association, which has not been proven, summary executions of this kind are entirely unjustifiable."
More than 100 heavily armed Brazilian police officers stormed a sprawling Rio de Janeiro favela Thursday and killed at least two dozen people, a raid that human rights activists, researchers, and journalists described as the deadliest such police atrocity in the city's history.
The hourslong operation, purportedly aimed at drug traffickers in the poverty-stricken Jacarezinho favela, ultimately left 25 people dead, including one police officer. Horrific video footage and images posted to social media in the wake of the raid--which was carried out despite a court order against such incursions during the Covid-19 pandemic--show favela residents surveying rooms, hallways, and alleys streaked with blood.
"It's extermination--there's no other way to describe it," Pedro Paulo Santos Silva, a researcher at Rio's Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship, told The Guardian. "This was a massacre."
(Warning: the following footage is disturbing)
\u201cUma casa invadida e esse eh o resultado\u201d— Joel Luiz Costa (@Joel Luiz Costa) 1620320695
"Really grim moment in Brazil," Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarape Institute, a Rio-based think tank, said in an interview with the Washington Post. "These shootings are obviously routine in Rio de Janeiro, but this is unprecedented, in that it's the operation that has generated the largest number of deaths, ever."
Brazilian lawmaker David Miranda, who grew up in Jacarezinho, called the deadly police raid "a tragedy, a slaughter authorized by Claudio Castro," Rio's governor.
"Jacarezinho is my origin, it is the favela that created me," said Miranda. "No person born outside the favela can know what that is. Brazilian institutions insist on disrespecting and marginalizing the favela."
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, Miranda's husband, wrote on Twitter that he has "seen probably two dozen videos that are way too horrifying to publish: police enter homes with full force and violence, and then execute people as they lay on the ground, shooting them 10-15 times each in the head."
"It's an atrocity what happened today," Greenwald added.
Brazil suffers one of the highest rates of police killings in the world, and the nation is currently led by a far-right president who campaigned on the promise to "give the police carte blanche to kill." According to Human Rights Watch, Rio law enforcement officers killed 453 people during the first three months of 2021.
"They say there is no death sentence in Brazil. Except if you live in a favela," said Marilia Correa, a Latin America historian and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan's Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies. "In this case, the police can just march in, kill dozens of people, and call it a day. This is appalling, revolting, outrageous. They have no right."
Jurema Werneck, executive director of Amnesty International Brazil, said in a statement Thursday that "the number of people killed in this police operation is reprehensible, as is the fact that, once again, this massacre took place in a favela."
"It's completely unacceptable that security forces keep committing grave human rights violations such as those that occurred in Jacarezinho today against residents of the favelas, who are mostly Black and live in poverty," said Werneck. "Even if the victims were suspected of criminal association, which has not been proven, summary executions of this kind are entirely unjustifiable."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.