BRAZIL: THOUSANDS DANCE THE SAMBA AND PARADE IN COSTUMES AS THE CARNIVAL PARADES THROUGH RIO DE JANEIRO.

Record ID: 645727

  • Title: BRAZIL: THOUSANDS DANCE THE SAMBA AND PARADE IN COSTUMES AS THE CARNIVAL PARADES THROUGH RIO DE JANEIRO.
  • Date: 1st March 2003
  • Summary: W1) RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (MARCH 01, 2003) (REUTERS) VARIOUS: OF SAMBA SCHOOL VILLA ISABEL (BLUE AND WHITE PRIMARY COLOURS) PARADING THROUGH SAMBODROMO. (12 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 16th March 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RIO DE JANEIRO AND SALVADOR DA BAHIA, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1XG6MQEP6SM2ZW9SVU0826B5M
  • Story Text: Brazil's world famous pre-Lenten bash has hit a fevered pitch with hundreds of thousands of Carnival lovers taking to the streets in what is considered one of the world's largest street parties.
    Thousands of scantily-dressed Brazilians dancing samba and donning colourful costumes paraded through Rio de Janeiro's Sambodromo on Saturday (March 1) as Carnival celebrations hit a fevered pitch with thousands more from around the world taking part in the pre-Lenten bash.
    In Salvador da Bahia (Bah-ee-ah), hundreds of thousands of revellers danced through the streets as Brazilian singer Gil (Jeel) performed.
    Saturday night's samba parades through the Rio's famed arena included the San Clemente samba school followed by Villa Isabel.
    Both schools are part of Group A, traditionally considered the schools with lesser resources for Carnival.
    The winner from Group A will advance next year into a higher group.
    San Clemente's primary colours this year were black and yellow while Villa Isabel donned blue and white.
    Each group was made up of some 3,500 participants, respectively.
    The Brazilian government ordered over 1,000 troops to help in safeguarding Carnival for the first time ever after drug lords terrorized Rio in the run-up to the pre-Lenten, annual celebration, torching dozens of municipal buses, detonating home-made bombs and spraying police posts with machine gun fire.
    The violence, which has left at least 11 dead since Monday (February 24), threatened to cast a shadow over what is billed as one of the world's biggest street parties, prompting some would-be visitors to cancel their plans at the last minute and stay home instead.
    But one day into the Bacchanalia, it seemed business as usual for the hundreds of thousands of Carnival lovers dancing and drinking in the city streets.
    Nearly 400,000 people are expected to attend the party, including 40,000 from abroad.
    Authorities have laid the blame for this week's violence on a jailed drug lord who is believed to have orchestrated the assaults from a prison cell on the outskirts of Rio in retaliation for a police crackdown on his gang.
    Luiz Fernando da Costa, who goes by the name of Fernandinho (Fur-nan-deen-yo) Beira-Mar (Bay-rah-Mar), or Freddy Seashore, was transferred on Thursday (February 27) to a maximum security prison in Sao Paulo state, where he will remain in solitary confinement until the Carnival is over.
    Rio also had to call in troops twice in October last year after drug gangs, which have become known as a "parallel power" to the government, threatened to disrupt voting in the country's presidential election. Voting went on peacefully.
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