BRAZIL-VIOLENCE/DEMO Protesters demand public security improvements in Rio after fatal stabbings
Record ID:
165430
BRAZIL-VIOLENCE/DEMO Protesters demand public security improvements in Rio after fatal stabbings
- Title: BRAZIL-VIOLENCE/DEMO Protesters demand public security improvements in Rio after fatal stabbings
- Date: 25th May 2015
- Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (MAY 24, 2015) (REUTERS) ANTI-VIOLENCE PROTEST IN PROGRESS, PEOPLE WAVING FLAGS AND GATHERING WITH BICYCLES PROTESTER HOLDING A BANNER A BANNER READING (IN PORTUGUESE): "RIO DEMANDS SECURITY" PROTESTERS CLAPPING CLOSE-UP OF LOGO ON PROTESTER'S T-SHIRT WITH A HAND HELD UP AND READING (IN PORTUGUESE): "I AM JAIME GOLD (CYCLIST KILLED EARLIER IN THE WEEK) ENOUGH" PROTESTERS GATHERED IN FRONT OF A BANNER WITH THE SAME LOGO PROTESTERS MARCHING, RIDING AND HOLDING UP BICYCLES, WEARING BICYCLE HELMETS AND BLOWING WHISTLES TEACHER, CHARLES RIBEIRO, AT THE PROTEST ON HIS BICYCLE (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) TEACHER, CHARLES RIBEIRO, SAYING: "Our aim is to mobilise everyone in society and the state to improve public security and the the attitudes of the governors of the city, attitudes before above all, to come to the streets and police them." (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PROTESTER, PEDRO HENRIQUE VOGTKESSLER, SAYING: "It helps nothing if we just stay at home complaining, saying that this situation is awful. Nothing is going to improve if we don't do anything, we have to come out to the streets, state what is wrong and demand change, because that's how we do things." MILITARY POLICE DRIVING PAST IN A BUGGY A POLICE CAR PARKED NEAR THE PROTEST POLICEMEN BY THE LAGOON PEOPLE JOGGING AND RUNNING BY THE LAGOON SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (MAY 22, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ANALYST, JULITA LEMGRUBER, SPEAKING IN HER OFFICE LEMBRUGER SHOWING FLASH CARDS WITH GRAPHICS ABOUT COMBATTING VIOLENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) ANALYST, JULITA LEMGRUBER, SAYING: "The area of intelligence within the police force needs to be improved. The police need to be ahead of what is happening. For example, we can't let a stabbing take place by the Lagoon, and only then take action, deploy police on bikes, on horses. This is something that should have been done already." RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (MAY 24, 2015) (REUTERS) FLOWERS SURROUNDING A BICYCLE LAID OUT AT THE SPOT WHERE CYCLIST AND DOCTOR, JAMIE GOLD, WAS STABBED AND KILLED EARLIER IN THE WEEK CLOSE-UP OF FLOWERS FLOWERS AND BICYCLE WHEELS / ROWERS IN THE BACKGROUND WHERE THE OLYMPIC ROWING EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE IN 2012 PEOPLE ROWING ON THE OLYMPIC COURSE
- Embargoed: 9th June 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Brazil
- City:
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA531D4MNSBH90KK6MWSR43LD1U
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of demonstrators marched around Rio de Janeiro's Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon on Sunday (May 24) to demand an urgent response from authorities following several fatal stabbings in the seaside city which is to host the Olympic Games next year.
The picturesque lagoon, a popular route for cyclists and joggers, was chosen because it is the site where a cyclist was stabbed to death by a minor last Tuesday (May 19).
The victim, a 57-year-old medical doctor, Jaime Gold, was attacked by two teenagers who stabbed him in the arm and stomach while stealing his money and his bicycle during a busy time at the park.
Gold, a cardiologist with two children at university, was rushed from the scene by emergency services and taken to Miguel Couto Hospital, where he died shortly after surgery.
The case is one of a string of recent stabbings in Rio which prompted some 500 people, according to local media, to take to the streets on Sunday, riding their bicycles in symbolic protest.
"Our aim is to mobilise everyone in society and the state to improve public security and the the attitudes of the governors of the city, attitudes before above all, to come to the streets and police them," teacher, Charles Ribeiro, told Reuters.
"It helps nothing if we just stay at home complaining, saying that this situation is awful. Nothing is going to improve if we don't do anything, we have to come out to the streets, state what is wrong and demand change, because that's how we do things," added protester, Pedro Henrique Vogtkessler.
A number of international tourists are among the list of recent victims.
A Chilean tourist, who had been riding her bike with her dog, was resting in the sun when she was stabbed in the neck and robbed of her bag.
The incident took place in the Gloria neighborhood, also in the wealthy South Zone of Rio de Janeiro on Friday (May 22), and she was taken to a local hospital and released the same day.
A Vietnamese tourist was stabbed multiple times on Sunday (May 17) as three minors apparently attempted to rob her and her companion while they were touring the city's downtown neighbourhood.
The woman, identified as 38-year-old Vietnamese Tran Vu Ha, was stabbed in the back and cut on her left arm as she tried to resist a robbery.
A nearby security guard took the injured and bleeding woman to safety and called emergency services. She was taken to an area hospital where she was treated and released.
Police later arrested three suspects aged 13, 16 and 19-years-old in connection to the case.
A German tourist, Fred Micfind, was also stabbed and killed in downtown Rio in a similar incident in February of this year.
According to analyst, Julita Lemgruber, the fault in public security lies in its intelligence service and not enough is being done to preempt and prevent such cases.
"The area of intelligence within the police force needs to be improved. The police need to be ahead of what is happening. For example, we can't let a stabbing take place by the Lagoon, and only then take action, deploy police on bikes, on horses. This is something that should have been done already," Lemgruber told Reuters on Friday.
Rio de Janeiro Governor, Luiz Fernando Pezao, defended the running of the police service and said that change had to come from legislators higher up.
"We have to address the law, as this is something that even with policing is just going to keep happening. The police are doing their job, we had a record of arrests in April and the last few months, but this is not enough. I am calling for a debate on this, it has to be debated in Congress, where laws are made," said Pezao.
According to the State Secretary of Health, 167 stabbing victims were attended to in Rio de Janeiro's four main hospitals with emergency services during the first four months of the year.
The violence has raised concerns about the city's readiness to welcome visitors from all over the world for the Olympic Games next year. Rowing and canoeing events are set to be held on the Lake, the area in which Gold was killed.
However, many feel that the levels of violence in the city have remained constant, only given more focus and sensationalised in the context of the approaching Games.
"So much focus has been put on these individual cases, such that the impression has been created that there has been a great increase in incidents of fatal crimes in Rio de Janeiro, which the figures do not show," said Lemgruber.
Violence has also continued to flare up in Rio de Janeiro's shanty-towns known as favelas, with residents protesting against police action.
Demonstrators set two buses on fire on the morning of May 15 following a week of violence in a grouping of nearby shantytowns.
The violence broke out after residents of the area said they discovered the bodies of two motorcycle taxi drivers from the Morro de Sao Carlos favela neighbourhood.
Local media said residents identified the victims as 22-year-old Ramom de Moura Oliveira and 29-year-old Rodrigo Marques Lourenco. Both men were reportedly stabbed to death though no motive has been determined.
Five other buses were burned out earlier in the month in a different part of the city.
Pezao blamed the violent protests on drug gangs and he said the police were working to control the violence.
The killings of motorcycle taxi drivers followed a week of violence in adjacent neighborhoods that started on May 8 when a drug gang invaded the turf of a rival gang in Morro da Coroa in the Santa Teresa neighbourhood.
Morro da Coroa is considered a "pacified" favela and has a Pacifying Police Unit or UPP police station in the neighbourhood.
The violence there is just one example of the tenuous nature of Rio's campaign to "pacify" favelas, a process that involves a military-style invasion of targeted slums followed by continued occupation by UPP police forces.
Dozens of UPPs have been installed in many of the city's favela neighbourhoods since the programme started in 2008. But despite the efforts, the crack of gunfire can still be heard in some "pacified" neighbourhoods.
Though the state has largely hailed the programme a success, some "pacified" areas have been rolled back as drug gangs return to the areas despite the police presence.
Rio geared up the programme ahead of the 2014 World Cup and continues to roll it out ahead of the 2016 Olympics, however, many suspect that when international focus slips off Brazil with the close of the Games, the programme may not be continued. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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