More than 100 heavily armed Brazilian police officers stormed a sprawling Rio de Janeiro favela Thursday and killed at least two dozen people, a raid that human rights activists, researchers, and journalists described as the deadliest such police atrocity in the city’s history.
The hourslong operation, purportedly aimed at drug traffickers in the poverty-stricken Jacarezinho favela, ultimately left 25 people dead, including one police officer. Horrific video footage and images posted to social media in the wake of the raid — which was carried out despite a court order against such incursions during the Covid-19 pandemic — show favela residents surveying rooms, hallways, and alleys streaked with blood.