{"id":58850,"date":"2020-04-10T10:14:15","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T13:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=58850"},"modified":"2020-04-27T16:48:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T19:48:17","slug":"after-brief-peace-in-quarantine-violent-policing-returns-to-rio-favelas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=58850","title":{"rendered":"After Brief Peace in Quarantine, Violent Policing Returns to Rio Favelas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This is our latest article on the new coronavirus as it impacts Rio de Janeiro\u2019s favelas<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

For a full two weeks, the global Covid-19 pandemic seemed enough to curb police violence in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. <\/span>Now, they say, the violence is back, and it\u2019s getting in the way of community coronavirus mitigation campaigns. As state police scrambled to adapt to isolation measures decreed by Governor Wilson Witzel<\/a> in mid-March, favela human rights activists took advantage of the momentary ceasefire, concentrating their efforts on coronavirus mitigation<\/a>. April\u2019s return to violence now threatens their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

According to a new report<\/a> by the Network of Security Observatories (ROS<\/a>), a monitoring body<\/a>, March 2020 saw a 23% decrease in \u201cpolice operations\u201d\u2014violent incursions into favelas, ostensibly undertaken to combat Rio\u2019s illicit drug trade\u2014in comparison to March 2019. After <\/span>March 16<\/span>, the total number of operations dropped 74% in comparison to the first half of the month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Number of police operations in March 2020. Hashed lines at March 16 and 20 represent state declarations of emergency and public calamity. Bar graph key: Blue = Patrols, Red =Operations, Green = Anti-Coronavirus Actions. Source: Network of Security Observatories, Rio de Janeiro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPolice forces were trying to figure out how to react, how to undertake their ordinary activities in this new context,\u201d said Pablo Nunes, a social scientist and security analyst at the ROS. Alongside a drop in police operations, said Nunes, the ROS noted increased activity in relation to containment measures, including highway checkpoints and isolation control, translating to a drop in the number of people killed during police operations in March: 15 compared to 26 for March 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was, in fact, this change,\u201d said Cecilia Oliveira, director of the Fogo Cruzado<\/a> platform and specialist in public security. \u201cThe governor redirected many police to actions related to coronavirus.\u201d According to the ROS report, Rio <\/span>police gave “repress drug trafficking”\u00a0as motivation for operations 43% less in March of 2020 compared to March 2019.<\/p>\n

April 1: Business as usual<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The peace was short-lived.\u00a0The first week of April, cautioned Nunes, had already brought a return to the <\/span>status quo,<\/span> with police operations returning to their regular frequency. He attributed the change to mixed messaging from the federal government: WHO-friendly orientations by Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta and anti-containment rhetoric by President Jair Bolsonaro had left Brazilians torn over how to behave. \u201cSo we\u2019ve seen not only an increase in the number of people in the streets, but we are also seeing that police operations are going back to normal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A caveir\u00e3o<\/em> rolls through the streets of Acari during a police operation on April 6. Photo – Fala Akari Collective, Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On April 3, a police operation in the favela of Acari<\/a>, in Rio\u2019s North Zone<\/a>, left three dead.<\/span> \u201cUntil last week, things were looking positive: operations weren\u2019t happening and the streets were really empty,\u201d said Buba Aguiar, a resident, sociologist and activist at the collective Fala Akari<\/a>, on April 7. Now, she said, \u201cthe operations are happening with much greater frequency, with the use of <\/span>caveir\u00f5es<\/span><\/i> [armored personnel carriers]<\/span> and gunfire. At the same time, the streets have gotten more crowded. So we have two worries: the same one as always, which is the risk of someone getting shot or killed, and the spread of the virus.\u201d<\/span> <\/b><\/p>\n

On April 6, a police operation conducted in the favelas of Mar\u00e9<\/a>, near Rio\u2019s international airport, <\/span>lasted over eight hours<\/span><\/a>. \u201cOperations have lasted for hours, with houses being torn apart, robberies, killings, in a moment like this, of pandemic, of crisis,\u201d said Gizele Martins<\/a>, a Mar\u00e9 resident and favela communicator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Martins, whose work usually addresses human rights and police violence<\/a>, is part of the Mar\u00e9 Mobilization Front<\/a>, a collaboration between local collectives<\/a> dedicated to raising awareness of coronavirus prevention methods.\u201cWe live in a society, where we have to survive this [police violence] every day,\u201d said Martins. \u201cNow imagine what it is to survive this in a massive health crisis, at a moment when we are also scared of this virus.\u201d Mar\u00e9 registered its <\/span>first confirmed Covid-19<\/span><\/a> death on April 8.<\/span><\/p>\n

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⚠️ #ALERTA<\/a> #Seguran\u00e7aP\u00fablica<\/a><\/p>\n

Opera\u00e7\u00e3o policial acontece no Parque Uni\u00e3o e Nova Holanda desde \u00e0s 5h dessa segunda-feira. Moradores relataram a presen\u00e7a do caveir\u00e3o da PMERJ circulando as ruas.#DeOlhonaMar\u00e9<\/a> #Opera\u00e7\u00e3onaMar\u00e9<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wY99LCS1Te<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Redes da Mar\u00e9 (@redesdamare) April 6, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n