UN Slams Deadly Brazil Police Operation in Favela 

GENEVA - The U.N. human rights office is calling on the Brazilian government to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into a deadly police operation in one of the favelas in Rio de Janeiro Thursday.  At least 25 people, including one policeman, were killed in a dawn raid in one of Rio de Janeiro’s shantytowns. The dramatic operation reportedly involved police officers on the ground and in a helicopter overhead shooting into the neighborhood, allegedly against members of a criminal organization.

U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville, says an unknown number of people were injured, including bystanders and people inside their houses.   “It appears to be the deadliest such operation in more than a decade in Rio de Janeiro and confirms a long-standing trend of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force by police in Brazil’s poor, marginalized and predominantly Afro-Brazilian neighborhoods, known as favelas," Colville said.   Colville notes the operation went ahead despite a ruling by the Federal Supreme Court in 2020, restricting police operations in Rio’s favelas during the COVID-19 pandemic.