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Brazil police crackdown leave at least 44 people dead

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Deutsche Welle

<p><br/>A wave of police operations across Brazil has culminated in the deaths of at least 44 people, including nine in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.</p><p>State Police said they returned fire in a shoot-out in the Penha slums complex area, resulting in multiple casualties.</p><p>&quot;Eleven suspects were wounded&quot; and taken to the hospital, it said. &quot;Nine of them died of their injuries,&quot; they said.</p><p>They added the Rio operation was a response to intelligence on a high-level meeting by gang leaders.</p><p>Two alleged drug gang leaders known as &quot;Fiel&quot; and &quot;Du Leme&quot; were among those who lost their lives during the Rio operation. Seven rifles, ammunition, and grenades have been seized from the suspects, police said.</p><p>Two police officers were also wounded and were in stable condition.</p><div><strong> Deadly raids across Brazil</strong></div><p>The firefight in Rio was just the latest deadly police action in the past few days.</p><p>In Sao Paulo state, authorities said Wednesday that 16 alleged criminals have been killed since police launched a massive anti-gang operation on Friday.</p><p>The operation came after 30-year-old special forces officer Patrick Bastos Reis was shot dead while on patrol in the port city of Guaruja on Thursday.</p><p>In the northeastern state of Bahia, officials reported the deaths of 19 suspects in three separate cities due to clashes with police since Friday.</p><div><strong>Use of lethal force questioned </strong></div><p>In all the cases, authorities said police had returned fire after coming under attack.</p><p>The operations have sparked a debate about the security forces&#x27; reliance on lethal force, particularly in a country where the police killed 6,429 people in 2022 alone.</p><p>Rio state legislator Dani Monteiro mentioned Wednesday&#x27;s police operation came just over a year after a raid in the same favela complex left 25 dead.</p><p>She criticized Rio state Governor Claudio Castro, a security hardliner and ally of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, demanding a halt to his security policies.</p><p>President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva&#x27;s Justice Minister, Flavio Dino, joined the criticism, arguing that the police response &quot;doesn&#x27;t seem proportional to the crime committed.&quot;</p><p>Lula da Silva, who beat Bolsonaro in last year&#x27;s vote, has long criticized his predecessor&#x27;s support of police who kill.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XHgur6yAAbs?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>