{"id":34860,"date":"2017-02-06T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=34860"},"modified":"2017-02-13T12:21:11","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T15:21:11","slug":"operation-cancellation-of-back-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=34860","title":{"rendered":"No School for Thousands of Alem\u00e3o Students Greeted With Enormous Police Operation on Their First Day of School"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

For the original article by Raull Santiago* in Portuguese published by Coletivo Papo\u00a0Reto\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Operation “Cancellation of Back to School”<\/em><\/h3>\n

This was the name given by residents to yet another operation<\/a>\u00a0of the so-called “War on Drugs<\/a>” undertaken by the Military Police<\/a>, with the support of BOPE<\/a>\u00a0(Special Operations Battalion) in the Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The controversial police operation generated a lot of disgust since\u00a0today was\u00a0the official first day of a\u00a0new school year, and it was precisely\u00a0this\u00a0day the police chose to start the\u00a0operation<\/a>. At exactly the time when thousands of children and young people were going to school and residents were leaving for work.<\/p>\n

Around 6:30am, we at Coletivo Papo Reto<\/a> started to get notifications on social media and in WhatsApp groups, talking about the large concentration of Military Police in an area of the favela, which was soon confirmed as an operation.<\/p>\n

Around 7am an intense exchange of gunfire was already happening and anger was widespread, after all, it had been awhile\u00a0since these kinds of intense police operations had taken place and they started to happen again just at the moment when kids were returning to classes.<\/p>\n

\"'Caveir\u00e3o'<\/a><\/p>\n

The difference with today’s confrontations, as opposed to the day-to-day kind, is that today there was a large police reinforcement, besides those that were already in the favela and besides the presence of BOPE and armored cars, which made the situation a lot more intense.<\/p>\n

Well, the police attitude reinforces what is many times vented by those that live here and who can’t handle this situation any longer: “The police use us, and even our children, like a shield.”<\/p>\n

Police\u00a0teams arriving in the favela spread out into different areas and the confrontations got\u00a0more intense. Just past 8am there were already two CAVEIR\u00d5ES\u00a0in the favela, heavily armored vehicles, with holes all around them, which allow the police to shoot from all sides of their war machine. A real tool for killing the poor<\/a>, when\u00a0we think about the extremely serious results that come from the gunshots from assault rifles used by the police<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s really strange to have this type of vehicle being used in favela operations.<\/p>\n

In addition, because of its weight and size, the CAVEIR\u00c3O is also known by residents because of the destruction it causes, such as flattening cars, motorcycles, street commerce, knocking down walls, etc.<\/p>\n

BOPE was also in the favela and the shooting was nonstop in different locations, causing real despair among\u00a0many people.<\/p>\n

After six hours of the police operation, it left loads of damage\u00a0and no progress, as always.<\/p>\n

\"Projectiles<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s the summary of today’s\u00a0OPERATION – CANCELLATION OF BACK TO SHOOL, as\u00a0carried out by the Rio de Janeiro Military Police:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. On the day that children and young people return to school, police start an operation that puts thousands of students at risk and leaves them unable to get to school.<\/li>\n
  2. As a result of this operation, some businesses did not open at the time they normally start their activities, as well as alternative transportation (kombis<\/a> and moto-taxis<\/a>) not circulating in several areas of the favela, generating direct financial losses for these workers and also impacting the lives of those who use their services.<\/li>\n
  3. The endless hours of war left hundreds of homes shot up, water containers full of holes, broken wiring from electrical power boxes, many homes without electricity and several areas of people’s lives financially and socially impacted.<\/li>\n
  4. A policeman and a young man were shot. Several people were injured at home, trying to hide from the shoot-outs.<\/li>\n
  5. Many desperate adults and children in the middle of the war sent us audios. People crying, begging for help, and desperate due to the intensity of war today. PSYCHOLOGICALLY DESTROYED<\/a>!<\/li>\n
  6. Nothing was seized, no one was arrested and even if they were arrested or there were seizures, the effectiveness of the operation\u00a0would be deemed minimal, because this\u00a0is not how change will occur.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For real advances to happen, I invite you to reflect and realize that we need to assume our prejudices<\/a>, our guilt in the way this system works and start building other ways of acting, for example:<\/p>\n