A police raid on a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ended in a confrontation that left at least 18 people dead, authorities said.
What happened frightened the community, according to what witnesses told the news agency The Associated Press, received criticism for the violence that aroused in the Complexo do Alemao, a low-income area.
"It's a massacre inside, that the police are calling an operation
," said a woman who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.
A woman shouts in protest against the police raid that resulted in multiple deaths this Thursday in the Complexo do Alemao favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.AP
The ambush was aimed at capturing
criminals related to bank robberies, cars and merchandise
, according to the Rio de Janeiro authorities.
Among the dead are 16 of these people, according to official information.
A police officer was among those killed and according to a report by Al Jazeera, a woman from the area was also killed.
[They set fire to a Mexican mother because of her son's noises: “I'm afraid”, she warned before dying, “NOBODY PROTECTED ME”]
“I would prefer that they (the suspects) had not reacted and then we could have arrested 15, 14 of them.
But unfortunately they chose to shoot our policemen,” said Ronaldo Oliveira, a Rio police investigator.
Police carry out an operation in the Complexo do Alemao favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, July 21, 2022. AP
AP agency reporters present at the scene saw how residents moved the bodies and shouted "We want peace."
The spokesman for the state military police, Ivan Blas, stated that the dead are still being counted.
In total 400 officers were involved in the operation.
In May, 22 people were killed in another military police raid in the Vila Cruzeiro favela.