Cidade de Deus 2 Sao Paolo

[welsh]

Remember this flick?
Well it seems this is a sequel.

Looks like there is a war between organized crime and the police in Brazil. This has been going on for the past few days.

From the BBC-
Also check the linked stories-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4997088.stm

Earlier the BBC posted this after a riot in a Brazilian prison-

More die in fresh Brazil violence

About half the state's jails are involved in the revolt

Aftermath of unrest

At least 52 people have died in two nights of violence in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, with criminal gangs attacking police stations and riots in prisons.

State officials say the unrest is being organised by the First Command of the Capital (PCC) criminal faction.

There have been revolts in more than 70 state jails and more than 250 people are being held hostage.

But State Governor Claudio Lembo said the situation was under control, and rejected a federal offer of help.

He said there was no need for extra police, or for troops.

Those being held hostage in the prisons include inmates' families, many of whom had been visiting on what was Mothers' Day in Brazil.

The 52 dead include 35 police officers and prison guards.

Bigger police bases have extra security, he says, and nearby roads are coned off to prevent drive-by shootings.

Smaller mobile units and street corner booths have been closed down.

The transfer of about 600 prisoners to a maximum security unit is thought to have sparked the unrest, which raged throughout Friday night.

Officers in police stations, mobile units, at their homes or in bars were targeted.

Dynamite

Violence erupted again on Saturday evening, with police patrols and off-duty officers again targeted with grenades and machine guns.

In one incident, dynamite was placed at the entrance to a police station and the resulting explosion blew off doors and iron railings.

Much of the violence is also in response to police violence - how can criminals have any respect for the law if it is not respected by the police?

Our correspondent says that, taken together, the attacks and the prison revolts represent the biggest wave of organised violence in Sao Paulo's history.

Founded in 1993, the PCC has been involved in drugs and arms trafficking, kidnappings, bank robberies, and prison breaks and rebellions, police say.

In November 2003, the gang attacked more than 50 police stations, killing three police officers and wounding 12.

Those attacks were thought to have been orchestrated by PCC leaders in jail.

But then more recently it seems the police have retaliated and the crime wave has hit the street.

More recently-

Rows as Sao Paulo killings go on

Despite the riots being quelled the death toll is continuing to rise
Gang-related violence has continued in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, with the police shooting dead a further 14 suspected gang members.

At least 170 people have died in a week of clashes, which began with prison riots and attacks against the police.

Human rights groups have accused police of targeting innocent civilians as they avenge the killing of their officers.

The head of the military police Colonel Elizeu Eclair Teixeira denies that any innocent people have been killed.

'Rogue officers'

The BBC's Steve Kingstone in Sao Paulo says that as attacks on the police have fallen, the number of suspects shot by officers has risen sharply.

In less than a week the police in Sao Paulo have shot dead 107 people, almost the same as the number of fatal shootings in the first three months of the year.

The victims are described as suspects, but few details have emerged and many of the dead are yet to be identified, our correspondent says.

Human rights campaigners suspect the police of acting out of revenge for the murders of officers by the gang known as the First Command of the Capital (PCC).

All the deaths happened during counter-attacks by the police. This is clear from the incident reports

Brazil's mighty prison gangs

They say there is evidence that rogue officers have indiscriminately shot at civilians, especially in poorer areas of Sao Paulo.

"On this moment we are facing a sort of explosion. Policemen in their cars with their guns going to poor neighbourhoods and facing people with a face like criminals and shooting them," said lawyer Carlos Veiss.

Col Teixeira rejected such claims in an interview with the daily Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper and said there was no evidence of the police using excessive force.

"Not so far. All the deaths happened during counter-attacks by the police. This is clear from the incident reports," he said.

The governor of Sao Paulo state, Claudio Lembo, has also denied its security forces are out of control

He said they were acting within limits and with restraint. The state attorney-general has said he will investigate every death.

But our correspondent says the number of shootings is causing growing concern, with some critics drawing comparisons with the death squads of Brazil's military era.

Interview outrage

Meanwhile, a row has broken out over an interview which a journalist says he got with a gang leader - via mobile phone from a maximum security jail.

The Bandeirantes television channel says the man who spoke by phone to its reporter was Marcus Camacho, known as Marcola, the alleged leader of the PCC.

He told reporter Roberto Cabrini that the violence would never have happened had the state authorities respected the Brazilian constitution in their treatment of prisoners.

The attacks were launched last Friday, apparently in retaliation for the transfer of 765 jailed PCC members to a maximum-security prison.

The PCC was ready and had the means to attack again, the interviewee said.

The Sao Paulo authorities have ordered experts to authenticate the recording, insisting that Marcola is in isolation without a phone.

But correspondents say gang leaders often get phones smuggled in to them with the help of corrupt guards.

And of course this has nothing to do with the fact that Brazil suffers remarkable income inequality? That guns are pervasive? That the economy is controlled by a very small portion of the population.

After that, isn't that where the US is going?

 

[Zaij]

Damn, you got me excited there. I thought that a second movie was actually coming out (the first one was a great, but not as flash as everyone says).

As for the violence, It's not really a shock coming from South America and Africa.