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.