Shootouts In Brazil Enter Sixth Day In Rio Favela

Rio de Janeiro police fought gun battles with drug traffickers in a crowded favela Friday, six days after well armed gunmen stormed the neighborhood

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 22, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Sep, 2017 ) - Rio de Janeiro police fought gun battles with drug traffickers in a crowded favela Friday, six days after well armed gunmen stormed the neighborhood.

Local media reported intense shooting between police and criminals early Friday inside the Rocinha favela, a teeming collection of small homes on steep hillsides overlooking western Rio. Amateur footage broadcast on Globo television showed men with a variety of rifles and pistols firing volley after volley in a heavily built up area.

A bus was set on fire near a major road tunnel underneath the favela, and the main highway was temporarily shut down by police. Violence is common in Rocinha, where drug gangs control much of the favela and the few police who enter are on permanent alert.

However, the situation spun dramatically out of control on Sunday when members of one narco gang poured into the favela to fight rivals. Footage taken by residents of groups of men with rifles moving unimpeded through the streets, in quasi-military fashion, shocked Rio residents.

On Wednesday, Rio state Governor Luiz Fernando Pezao revealed that he had ordered police not to intervene. Pezao said he did not want to risk a spillover of the violence as tens of thousands of people were using the highway below the favela to reach the Rock in Rio music festival.

Pezao has asked the Federal government for urgent help from the army in Rocinha and elsewhere in Rio, where security has declined steadily since last year's Olympic Games.