Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Sat, May 26, 2012
Archive Search

New Rio Strike Threatens Brazil Carnival
Madeleine Pradel | February 10, 2012

A woman participates in a protest while chained to a doll as hundreds of police officers and firefighters debate whether to strike a week before the Carnival in downtown of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Thursday. The protest comes despite the regional authorities approving an increase in their salaries. (EPA Photo/Marcelo Sayao) A woman participates in a protest while chained to a doll as hundreds of police officers and firefighters debate whether to strike a week before the Carnival in downtown of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Thursday. The protest comes despite the regional authorities approving an increase in their salaries. (EPA Photo/Marcelo Sayao)
Share This Page
0
1
0
0
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

Be the first to write your opinion!

Rio de Janeiro. Rio police planned to strike for better pay on Friday, warning people to stay off the streets and close shops a week before the famed Carnival festival, expected to attract millions of revelers.

Union leaders rejected a deal approved by Rio’s state legislature that had hoped to head off the strike with a 39 percent increase in pay for police, firefighters and prison guards.

On Friday, “there will be no civil or military police on the streets. We will all remain in our barracks and we will only leave in the event of a risk to lives,” firefighter Laercio Soares told AFP after the decision was taken.

“People, we are with you. Remain calm. Just please do not go into the streets, do not send your children to school, and do not open your shops at this time. It is important to protect lives,” he said.

The move came hours after more than 200 military police ended a nine-day strike in Salvador, capital of the Bahia state, where they had occupied the state legislature to demand better pay, unleashing a massive crime wave.

More than 120 people were murdered in and around Salvador, Brazil’s third largest city, during the standoff, more than twice the usual homicide rate.

Some 3,500 soldiers and elite police were sent to the area to restore order ahead of Salvador’s famed Carnival celebrations later this month.

The strike in Rio, which is set to hold some of the biggest Carnival celebrations in the country, threatened security at the popular festival.

Union leader for Rio firefighters Benevenuto Daciolo earlier urged the Bahia strike be extended to other states specifically to disrupt Carnival.

“This year, for the first time in Brazilian history, we may be deprived of Carnival, here in our city. The Carnival is known throughout the world, and is a trademark of our city,” striking firefighter Reginaldo Adin told AFP.

The turmoil has also raised concerns about Brazil’s hosting of the 2014 World Cup, the world’s premiere sporting tournament, when millions of visitors are expected to descend on South America’s largest country.

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has criticized the strikes and said there will be no amnesty for those who act against “the people and the public order.”

“In a democracy there are legitimate demands, but there are ways to make demands. Do not think that increasing the killings in the streets, that burning buses... is the correct way” to protest, she said.

Officials said Thursday that 14,000 army troops stood ready to assume security responsibility in Rio, along with 300 national guard firefighters.

The poorly paid military police — a state force distinct from the federal police and not affiliated with the armed forces — is ordinarily responsible for maintaining law and order.

They are called “military” because of their organizational structure.

Agence France-Presse