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Lunae Parracho / Reuters
Striking police officers gesture in front of the Legislative Assembly that they are occupying in protest, in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, on Feb. 7, 2012.
Christophe Simon / AFP - Getty Images
Soldiers stand guard outside the Legislative Assembly building on Feb. 6, 2012.
The Associated Press reports from SAO PAULO:
Lunae Parracho / Reuters
An army armored vehicle patrols Paralela avenue in Salvador on Feb. 5, 2012.
Soldiers clashed with supporters of striking police in Brazil's third-largest city on Monday, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the feet of people trying to join officers occupying the Bahia state legislature building.
The murder rate in Salvador has more than doubled since the strike began a week ago — but violence has quickly diminished since troops were sent in over the weekend.
Officials said the soldiers are at the building seeking to arrest 11 of the police officers holed up there. They are wanted for allegedly organizing roving gangs to loot stores and of robbing police cars last week, in what Gov. Jaques Wagner said was an effort to spread panic among the population.
Calm has mostly been restored since 2,000 soldiers and 600 elite federal police were sent into the city Saturday, with murders dropping below normal levels. Read the full story.
Lunae Parracho / Reuters
Striking police officers give gestures of support from outside the Legislative Assembly to their colleagues who are occupying the building, on Feb. 6, 2012.
Lunae Parracho / Reuters
A soldier patrols next to a homeless man sleeping in Salvador on Feb. 5, 2012.
Lunae Parracho / Reuters
Residents watch as men carry the body of a woman who was shot dead in the Sao Marcos neighborhood on Feb. 5, 2012.
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Carnaval is next week and Salvador, Bahia is by far the largest, hence the timing for the strike.
Doesn't bode well that murder, crime rates have dropped "below NORMAL" since the army was called in;)
The biggest criminals in Brazil are the cops!!! I travel
there on business often. I know!!!
About time they cleaned house, the cops are so corrupt there the locals don't even bother calling them.
All of the union busting and slashing of benefits/wages for government workers( teachers, firemen,COPS) may soon bring this movie to a U.S. city near you. We are all taught since an early age to always respect, trust and obey officers of the law.
As soon as the police rebel at mistreatment to themselves or their communities, the military is brought in and the police are instantly painted as the bad guys. When the situation warrants rebellion even among the military, we have Egypt.
Any knowledgeable citizen that fails to harbor the slightest suspicion that their government may be the true bad guy is a fool or government troll.
Common, after reading different posts, on different sites, there are a lot of fools, govt trolls out there. Oh yes, they say, it's always the unions fault, etc etc. It's never managements fault, just the union workers. What a bunch of low informed people.
...For those not aware (look it up), police in Sao Paulo have an evil reputation... Murder for hire being one of their specialties... Included in that, the hunting down and killing of nearly feral gangs of homeless children that are a major tribulation to small business owners... who in desperation hire off duty police to "thin out" the gangs...
I live in Sao Paulo city, Brazil, and I need to say that's all about corruption. Unfortunately the politicians just want their money and they don't care about important things like Education and Security. Teachers and policemen have a very very low salary while politicians vote for their own salary raise. I agree that it's not a reason for the cops to become criminals, but the drug traffic - that runs a lot of money - makes them be involved with the criminality. The fact they went on strike close to the Carnival was a way of causing a higher impact to get what they claim.