Brazilian president Lula called police assault on two of Rio’s largest clusters of favelas ‘disastrous’ and a ‘massacre’
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has said his government will seek an independent investigation into what he called a “disastrous” police “massacre” that left at least 121 people dead.
Four officers and at least 117 others were killed when police launched a major assault on two of Rio’s largest clusters of favelas, the Complexo do Alemão and the Complexo da Penha, early last Tuesday to execute 100 arrest warrants.
The police raid – the deadliest in Brazilian history – made international headlines when scores of mutilated bodies were dumped at the entrance to one of the working-class areas where the operation took place. The dead included a 14-year-old and a 19-year-old who was decapitated and had his head exhibited on a tree. One police victim had his leg amputated after being shot.
There has been widespread public support for the carnage, with Rio’s rightwing governor, Cláudio Castro, hailing the operation as a severe blow to the Rio-born Red Command drug faction, one of Brazil’s biggest crime groups.
