A police raid that led to violent clashes with a gang in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, resulted in at the very least 119 deaths, public defenders mentioned on Wednesday, a day after the federal government ordered the operation.
In line with Reuters, state police mentioned the raids had been exhaustively deliberate for greater than two months and had 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 thus far, together with 115 suspects and 4 law enforcement officials, nearly double the determine authorities gave sooner or later prior. On Tuesday, the pressure mentioned about 2,500 police and troopers killed 60 suspected gang members.
Police have a look at a burned automotive utilized by alleged drug traffickers as a roadblock throughout a police operation within the Complexo do Alemao favela, the place the legal group “Comando Vermelho” operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025.
AP Photograph / Silvia Izquierdo
Police spokesman Felipe Curi mentioned extra our bodies had 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 likely be investigated as proof tampering, he added.
On Wednesday, within the Penha neighbourhood, a low-income space positioned within the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, residents surrounded the our bodies of the lifeless, 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 using excessive pressure 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 had been seized.
The raid sparked gunfire exchanges between gang members and police, resulting in widespread chaos, faculty closures, automotive fires and roadblocks.
Police conduct an operation in opposition to alleged drug traffickers within the Complexo do Alemao favela, the place the legal group ‘Comando Vermelho’ operates in Rio de Janeiro, on Oct. 28, 2025.
AP Photograph / Silvia Izquierdo
On Wednesday morning, native activist Raull Santiago mentioned he and a staff of others discovered 15 our bodies earlier than dawn.
“We noticed executed folks shot within the again, pictures to the pinnacle, stab wounds, folks tied up. This stage of brutality, the hatred unfold — there’s no different method to describe it besides as a bloodbath,” he instructed the AP.
In the meantime, state officers argue its forces are preventing a warfare of “narco-terrorism” and that those that had been killed had been resisting arrest.
Rio is not any stranger to lethal police raids: in Could 2021, 28 folks had been killed within the Jacarezinho favela, and in 2005, 29 folks had 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 beneath worldwide human rights regulation.”
“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 lately, based on the AP, together with within the Amazon rainforest.
Filipe dos Anjos, secretary normal of favela rights group FAFERJ, instructed the information outlet that this type of police operation doesn’t remedy the issue, as those that had been killed may be simply changed.
“In about 30 days, organized crime will already be reorganized within the territory, doing what it at all times does: promoting medicine, stealing cargo, gathering funds and costs,” he mentioned.
“When it comes to concrete outcomes for the inhabitants, for society, this type of operation achieves virtually nothing,” he added.
— With information from Reuters and The Related Press
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