Rio authorities said 16 suspected criminals were killed in confrontations with police in Complexo do Alemao along with a police officer and an woman. A police spokesman said the raid targeted a criminal group that stole cars and robbed banks, and invaded nearby neighborhoods.
“It’s a massacre inside, which police are calling an operation,” one woman told AP, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she feared reprisals from authorities. “They’re not letting us help ,” she added, saying she saw one man arrested for attempting to do so. Thursday’s operation was aimed at locating and arresting criminal leaders, some from other states, police said in an early statement.
Earlier this year, Brazil’s Supreme Court established a series of conditions for police to conduct raids in Rio’s favelas as a means to reduce police killings and violations of human rights. The court ordered that lethal force be used only in situations in which all other means have been exhausted and when necessary to protect life.