Residents of Cidade de Deus slum community protest against police raid

A group of residents from Rio's Cidade de Deus slum community protested Thursday (Nov. 24) against the use of general search warrants for searching the community. They complain that the court order allows police to storm, even break into every home in the areas covered by the warrant.

The situation in the neighborhood became critical after a Military Police helicopter crashed last Saturday (19) killing four police officers, and was even tenser after the discovery of seven dead bodies, allegedly of drug dealers, in a wood on Sunday (20). To expedite the investigation efforts, Judge Angélica dos Santos Costa authorized mass searches in four regions of Cidade de Deus.

Outrage

“We are staging this peaceful demonstration against an authoritarian ruling by this judge that disrespects residents of Cidade de Deus. They storm anyone's home. The vast majority of us are hardworking people. We're no bandits, we don't break laws,” pensioner Sansão de Lima complained.

Demonstrators marched along one of the main roads in the neighborhood holding banners and posters against the court order and police repression of residents. The march was closely monitored by a strong police force armed with rifles.

“We are protesting against military brutality. We're not in crime, we're workers, we're the oppressed. They knocked down our doors and broke our furniture. We want respect. We're not opposed to the military, but they're not respecting us,” said hairdresser Meire Alves da Silva.

Police Commissioner Felipe Curi, who was in charge of the operation on Wednesday (23), endorsed the general search warrant as an exceptional measure to allow searches at several homes in the community, resulting in the arrest of 14 people who had been ordered under arrest, and the seizure of weapons and drugs.

Missing

Among the protesters, a family was searching for information about their 16-year-old boy, who went missing on the night of November 17, when he is said by his family to have joined drug dealers in a raid in Gardênia Azul, a neighboring community that is controlled by militia (criminal organizations that include former or serving police officers.)

His 15-year-old brother, who was also in the raid, was shot in the leg and detained, but the 16-year-old was reportedly shot and has been missing since, according to one of his aunts, Claudiane Silva de Oliveira.

The boy's father has been searching woods after his son for a week, but so far he has found no signs of the boy. “I want to find out about my son, I want to find him. As a father, I want this to end. I've searched woods and haven't slept or eaten. (...) If he's dead, I want his body so I can bury him. If he's alive, thank goodness. There's got to be an end—either dead or alive,” said Gelson da Silva de Oliveira holding his mobile showing a picture of his son.

Translated by Mayra Borges