{"id":74812,"date":"2023-05-02T09:24:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T12:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=74812"},"modified":"2026-02-15T13:00:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:00:55","slug":"two-police-operations-in-three-days-cause-psychological-terror-for-residents-and-leave-victims-in-the-favelas-of-mare-voicesfromsocialmedia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=74812","title":{"rendered":"Two Police Operations in Three Days Cause Psychological Terror for Residents and Leave Victims in the Favelas of Mar\u00e9 #VoicesFromSocialMedia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Complexo<\/a>
Complexo da Mar\u00e9. Photo: Antoine Horenbeek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

This article is part of RioOnWatch\u2019s\u00a0#VoicesFromSocialMedia<\/a>\u00a0series, which compiles perspectives posted on social media by favela residents and activists about events and societal themes that arise.<\/em><\/p>\n

Community leaders, specialists, researchers, elected officials, and unnamed sources have protested on social media against the violence sanctioned by Governor Cl\u00e1udio Castro<\/a>\u2019s administration in the favelas of Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a> in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s North Zone<\/a>. Mar\u00e9 residents have once again experienced brutal violence by the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE<\/a>), an elite squad of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police (PM<\/a>).<\/h4>\n

At the time of the operations, which took place from Sunday night into Monday morning, April 16-17, many residents were walking in the streets and enjoying the end of their weekend. There were several cultural events taking place in the areas when caveir\u00f5es<\/em>, PM armored vehicles, and hundreds of police invaded the favelas that make up Complexo da Mar\u00e9, initiating the confrontation.<\/h4>\n

\u201cAt 12:15am this Monday (April 17), police armored vehicles entered the favelas that make up Complexo da Mar\u00e9. We have reports of shootings in Rubens Vaz<\/a>, Nova Holanda<\/a>, and Parque Uni\u00e3o<\/a> favelas,\u201d shared the NGO Redes da Mar\u00e9<\/a> in a Twitter post<\/a>, at 12:55am. Were it not for the date of this more recent post, this \u2018new information\u2019 could have been easily confused with an \u2018older\u2019 post published just 48 hours earlier, on April 14<\/a>, following yet another police invasion. This marked the second instance of police operations that the community in three days.<\/p>\n

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ATUALIZA\u00c7\u00c3O | OPERA\u00c7\u00c3O 🚨 Ainda h\u00e1 relatos de tiros nas regi\u00f5es da Nova Holanda e Parque Uni\u00e3o, com a presen\u00e7a de dois ve\u00edculos blindados circulando pelas ruas das favelas.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Redes da Mar\u00e9 (@redesdamare) April 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UPDATE | OPERATION 🚨 There are still reports of shots fired in Nova Holanda and Parque Uni\u00e3o areas, with the presence of two armored vehicles moving through the streets of the favelas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to a report<\/a> by the Fogo Cruzado Institute<\/a>, the first 100 days of Cl\u00e1udio Castro’s government\u2014who has been referred to as the \u201cgovernor of massacres\u201d by human rights organizations and favela social movements\u2014were marked by an increase in victims of stray bullets and a lack of transparent policies concerning public safety. \u201cBetween January 1 and April 10 of this year, 52 people were victims of stray bullets in Greater Rio de Janeiro. This represents a 79% increase<\/a> compared to the same period in 2022 [when 29 were killed],\u201d shared the survey released by Fogo Cruzado, which also refers to the mapping of 1,014 shootouts<\/a> that have occurred in Greater Rio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Police Invasion on April 17 Brings Panic and Death to Mar\u00e9<\/h3>\n

Residents recorded videos of the police operations on April 17; in these videos, which were widely circulated on social media, there are residents running and attempting to take shelter amidst smoke, pepper spray, sounds of gunshots, and shouting: \u201cThere are children here. It’s residents! It’s residents! It’s residents!\u201d shouted a desperate man.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Mare\u0301 Vive (@marevive)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Not even possible to take shelter. Tear gas is unbearable, residents won’t be able to sleep.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Redes da Mar\u00e9 team takes action during police operations, including those that occurred on April 14 and April 17. They sheltered residents whose human rights were being violated. The NGO also produces information and develops projects and calls to actions in the quest to ensure effective public policies for the group of 16 favelas that make up Complexo da Mar\u00e9. According to a note<\/a> of protest released by Redes da Mar\u00e9, entitled The Week Ends and Begins with Police Operations in Mar\u00e9<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found out that at that moment, a baby shower was ending, [there was] a music event, and people were still walking in the streets. The presence of the ‘caveir\u00e3o’ [armored] vehicle led to gunshots, scrambling, terror, and a lot of fear. With no information about what was happening, residents sought shelter in the favela\u2019s streets or found ways to get to Avenida Brasil.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the note, the organization protests Governor Cl\u00e1udio Castro\u2019s continuous infringement of the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF<\/a>)\u2019s ruling aiming to reduce police lethality in favelas, brought by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which restricts carrying out police operations in favelas during the pandemic: the Claim of Noncompliance with a Fundamental Order 635 (ADPF 635<\/a>). The police is required to communicate and justify any exceptions to the rule. As such, 11 points<\/a> required by the STF judges, and listed in the Redes da Mar\u00e9 note as unaddressed during the recent operations, include: the State\u2019s guarantee of medical ambulances in places where police operations occur in order to provide first aid to those injured; monitoring through body cameras and vehicles\u2019 GPS; maintaining the scene where the harmful act took place and conducting a criminal investigation; and banning night operations, such as the one that took place on April 17.<\/p>\n

Two people were injured in the police operation and taken to Get\u00falio Vargas State Hospital (HEGV<\/a>), where one of them died. The psychological terror of this confrontation struck residents over the course of many hours at night and into Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Rene Silva<\/a>, founder of the newspaper Voz das Comunidades<\/em><\/a>, denounced the situation on Twitter. He posted a screenshot from a WhatsApp conversation in which a friend recounts that a police officer put a rifle in her face and threatened to kill everyone, including the children present.<\/p>\n

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Estou preso em um bar no PU, moro na NH. N\u00e3o tem como entrar. Muito g\u00e1s de pimenta. Tem relato de ceifada baleada.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rany (@euranysoares_) April 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rene Silva: MY FRIEND’S STORY JUST NOW, AT 1:03 AM!!! SHE LIVES IN MAR\u00c9<\/p>\n

Screenshot of the conversation:<\/p>\n

Unidentified Friend: Buddy, the police just pointed an assault weapon in my face and said he would kill all the kids here. He said he knows who I am. I’m terrified<\/p>\n

Rene: God!!! Where are you now???<\/p>\n

Unidentified Friend: Man, the despair. The pain. I can’t stop crying. I’m stuck at the Family Clinic with a bunch of kids.<\/p>\n

Rany: I’m stuck in a bar in Parque Uni\u00e3o, I live in Nova Holanda. There’s no way to get in. Lots of pepper spray. There is a report of a shot that killed someone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Commenting on the post published at 1:03am, with more than 1.2 million views, other residents also reported being cornered in the middle of the shooting, suffocated by pepper spray from projectiles thrown by the police. There are 140,000 people<\/a> living in Mar\u00e9\u2019s favelas.<\/p>\n

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Meia noite de domingo no PU, tem uma pra\u00e7a lotada de vida. Tem pagode, tem um polo de gastronomia, tem o cotidiano acontecendo como em todo lugar. Voc\u00eas n\u00e3o sabem disso porque acham na favela s\u00f3 tem mis\u00e9ria, e que meia noite pobre tem que t\u00e1 dormindo.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tha\u00eds Gomes (@Thaisgmsv) April 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0Midnight on a Sunday in Parque Uni\u00e3o, there’s a square full of life. There’s pagode, there’s a food court, there’s everyday life going on like everywhere else. You don’t know that because you think in the favela there’s only poverty, and at midnight the poor should be sleeping.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Raphael Vicente<\/a> is a 22-year-old who has achieved notable success on social media with his comedy videos that he stars in alongside his family; he is the face of the new gshow<\/a> Internet and TV marketing campaign. In a moving post, published on his profile, he stated that he doesn’t know how to write about violence, but that sometimes violence makes it necessary to write:<\/p>\n

\u201cI never know how to start writing about this subject. I think it’s because deep down, I don’t want to have to write about it. My goal with my work is to show everything that the media doesn’t show about favelas: joy, love, and all the power that exists here. And talking about the violence we constantly suffer here in Mar\u00e9 always hurts me a lot. But it’s necessary. I’ve lived here for 22 years and I know that even the violence that the media loves to talk about, the same media also makes a point of omitting and lying about it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The post was published at 5:54pm on April 17, the same day of the police operation, during the Twitter storm \u201c#AFavelaQuerViver<\/em><\/a>\u201d (#FavelaWantsToLive) posted by Mar\u00e9 residents, community-based movements in the favelas, civil society organizations, and even elected officials. Tagging the Twitter handles of Governor Cl\u00e1udio Castro and Eduardo Paes<\/a>, mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Vicente questions whether police operations in Rio\u2019s South Zone<\/a> party scene, amidst middle and upper class neighborhoods, are also carried out with such aggression and violations.<\/p>\n

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queridos @claudiocastroRJ<\/a> e @eduardopaes<\/a> Esse mesmo tratamento \u00e9 dado a quem frequenta as festas lotadas de drogas da zona sul\/classe alta? Foi o mesmo tratamento tamb\u00e9m quando acharam 117 fuzis no condom\u00ednio vivendas na barra da tijuca? #AFavelaQuerViver<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 rapha (@raphaelviicente) April 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the eternal feeling that your life is worthless if you’re from the favela.<\/p>\n

It’s revolting to hear every day Tino Junior saying that anyone in the favela is a bandit and congratulating the State<\/p>\n

while we are afraid to leave our homes because at any moment this state can kill us<\/p>\n

Dear @claudiocastroRJ and @eduardopaes<\/p>\n

Is this the same treatment given to those who attend drug-filled parties in the South Zone\/upper class?<\/p>\n

Was it the same treatment when they found 117 rifles in Barra da Tijuca\u2019s condominium villas?<\/p>\n

#FavelaWantsToLive<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The education and health sectors were also disrupted by the police operation<\/a>: 23 schools did not operate on Monday, April 17, affecting 8,274 students, according to Rio\u2019s Municipal Education Secretariat. The Jeremias Morais da Silva Family Clinic also had its service suspended during the day.<\/p>\n

In 2023, police operations in Rio de Janeiro have affected 80,000 students<\/a>. Data from the Municipal Education Secretariat show that between February and March 2023, schools had to trigger their security protocols 1,322 times.<\/p>\n

Mar\u00e9\u2019s favelas were the target of three police operations in April alone. On April 5, a BOPE caveir\u00e3o<\/em> invaded the courtyard<\/a> of a learning center in the Nova Holanda favela to arrest suspects allegedly hiding there. The school building was empty; classes had been canceled hours earlier.<\/p>\n

Yet, in a video that circulated on social media, one can see the moment when two caveir\u00f5es<\/em>\u2014the Military Police\u2019s armored vehicles\u2014enter the schoolyard and terrorize both children and adults.<\/p>\n

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Hoje era pra ser mais um dia de festinha nas escolas e as crian\u00e7as s\u00e3o surpreendidas com mais pol\u00edtica de viol\u00eancia.<\/p>\n

Que tipo de seguran\u00e7a \u00e9 essa que eles pregam? Isso s\u00f3 traz viol\u00eancia e amea\u00e7a vidas. O governador @claudiocastroRJ<\/a> n\u00e3o se importa!<\/p>\n

V\u00eddeo via morador.#marevive<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/7BCPgwDQp9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mar\u00e9 Vive 🐸 (@MareVive) April 5, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n