A police raid that led to violent clashes with a gang in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, resulted in at the least 119 deaths, public defenders mentioned on Wednesday, a day after the federal government ordered the operation.
In response to Reuters, state police mentioned the raids had been exhaustively deliberate for greater than two months and have been designed to push gang suspects working within the Complexo da Penha favela into close by hillside areas, the place a particular operations unit stood ready to ambush the alleged assailants.
Rio police officers confirmed 119 deaths to this point, together with 115 suspects and 4 cops, nearly double the determine authorities gave sooner or later prior. On Tuesday, the drive mentioned about 2,500 police and troopers killed 60 suspected gang members.
Police have a look at a burned automobile utilized by alleged drug traffickers as a roadblock throughout a police operation within the Complexo do Alemao favela, the place the prison group “Comando Vermelho” operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025.
AP Picture / Silvia Izquierdo
Police spokesman Felipe Curi mentioned further our bodies have been retrieved from a forest near the raided neighbourhoods, alleging that residents had eliminated camouflage gear and clothes worn by the deceased gang suspects discovered within the woods.
Their alleged actions will probably be investigated as proof tampering, he added.
On Wednesday, within the Penha neighbourhood, a low-income space situated within the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, residents surrounded the our bodies of the useless, which had been collected in vans and displayed in a central sq..
They shouted “bloodbath” and “justice” earlier than forensic groups got here to retrieve the our bodies, The Related Press reported.
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Rio state officers say the usage of excessive drive and the violent nature of the raid didn’t come as a shock to authorities.
“The elevated lethality of the operation was anticipated however not desired,” Victor Santos, head of safety for Rio state, mentioned throughout a information convention.
The state authorities mentioned 93 rifles and greater than half a ton of medication have been seized.
The raid sparked gunfire exchanges between gang members and police, resulting in widespread chaos, faculty closures, automobile fires and roadblocks.
Police conduct an operation in opposition to alleged drug traffickers within the Complexo do Alemao favela, the place the prison group ‘Comando Vermelho’ operates in Rio de Janeiro, on Oct. 28, 2025.
AP Picture / Silvia Izquierdo
On Wednesday morning, native activist Raull Santiago mentioned he and a workforce of others discovered 15 our bodies earlier than dawn.
“We noticed executed individuals shot within the again, pictures to the top, stab wounds, individuals tied up. This degree of brutality, the hatred unfold — there’s no different method to describe it besides as a bloodbath,” he informed the AP.
In the meantime, state officers argue its forces are combating a conflict of “narco-terrorism” and that those that had been killed have been resisting arrest.
Rio is not any stranger to lethal police raids: in Could 2021, 28 individuals have been killed within the Jacarezinho favela, and in 2005, 29 individuals have been killed in Rio’s Baixada Fluminense area.
The brutality of Tuesday’s operation has garnered widespread condemnation from human rights companies, together with the UN, which referred to as for an investigation into the excessive variety of reported fatalities and reminded authorities of their “obligations underneath worldwide human rights legislation.”
“Following the deadliest police operation in Rio de Janeiro’s historical past, we name for complete & efficient reform of policing strategies,” the group wrote on X on Wednesday.
“Violations can’t go unpunished. Correct accountability processes should result in reality and justice to keep away from additional impunity & violence,” the assertion continued.
Prison gangs have strengthened their foothold in Brazilian society in recent times, based on the AP, together with within the Amazon rainforest.
Filipe dos Anjos, secretary common of favela rights group FAFERJ, informed the information outlet that this sort of police operation doesn’t remedy the issue, as those that have been killed will be simply changed.
“In about 30 days, organized crime will already be reorganized within the territory, doing what it all the time does: promoting medicine, stealing cargo, gathering funds and charges,” he mentioned.
“When it comes to concrete outcomes for the inhabitants, for society, this sort of operation achieves virtually nothing,” he added.
— With recordsdata from Reuters and The Related Press
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