Helicopter downed in Rio violence; two police dead

[praetor]

Reuters
Saturday, October 17, 2009; 2:11 PM

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Suspected drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter and set fire to five buses and a school in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, killing two policemen, police and media said.

It is one of the worst recent outbreaks of violence in Rio and comes two weeks after the city was awarded the 2016 Olympic Games, despite worries over its high levels of violence and poor security.

Traffickers set fire to the buses in response to a police operation against them, the O Globo network said on its website, which showed pictures of the destroyed helicopter and buses on fire. It reported that three suspected criminals were also killed.

"The helicopter was hit by criminals and the pilot made a forced landing on a football pitch," Major Oderlei Santos of the military police told Reuters.

The helicopter had been carrying six police officers as part of an operation in one of Rio's hundreds of slums, which are dominated by heavily armed drug gangs, police said.

They said the helicopter exploded after it landed and that the four surviving officers were wounded, suffering from burns.

(Reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Eduardo Simoes; writing by Stuart Grudgings; editing by Chris Wilson)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/17/AR2009101701085.html


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLEPY_rItzw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMG86-rPRPE




Welcome Rio 2016!!!


pics from:

http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/noticias/0,,OI4047447-EI5030,00-Traficantes+de+favela+derrubam+helicoptero+da+PM+n o+Rio.html#tphotos

[praetor]

It happened today

pics from:

http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/noticias/0,,OI4047447-EI5030,00-Traficantes+de+favela+derrubam+helicoptero+da+PM+n o+Rio.html#tphotos

[JerseyMike]

Congrats Rio for the Olympics

[TheGuard]

Seems like a lovely place.

[phobun]

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been good for Brazil.

He once said, “This was a [financial] crisis that was fostered and boosted by the irrational behaviour of people who were white and blue-eyed..."

Did he mean to include those troublesome teuto-brasileiros like Gisele Bundchen too?

[praetor]

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been good for Brazil.

He once said, “This was a [financial] crisis that was fostered and boosted by the irrational behaviour of people who were white and blue-eyed..."

Did he mean to include those troublesome teuto-brasileiros like Gisele Bundchen too?

He is totally insane like some brazilian citizens.

[praetor]

Drug gangs shoot down helicopter in Rio battle
12:14PM Sunday Oct 18, 2009


RIO DE JANEIRO - Drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter during a gunbattle between rival gangs Saturday, killing two officers in a burst of violence just two weeks after the city was chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Ten suspected drug traffickers were also killed during the fighting in a shantytown, along with two bystanders in the slum, officials said.

Bullets flying from the Morro dos Macacos ("Monkey Hill" in Portuguese) slum in northern Rio de Janeiro hit the police helicopter pilot in the leg as he hovered above the shootout, causing him to lose control and crash.

Two officers died, while the pilot and three other policemen escaped after the craft hit and burst into flames. The pilot and a second officer suffered burns and bullet wounds. The other two officers also were burned, one gravely, said Mario Sergio Duarte, head of Rio state's military police.

Officials did not know whether the gangs targeted the helicopter or whether it was hit by stray bullets, but the event underscored security concerns that have dogged Brazil's second-largest city for decades.

It was not clear what sort of weapon or weapons hit the helicopter, but Duarte said it was unlikely to have been an anti-aircraft missile. Such weapons have been found in the hideouts of drug traffickers along with other heavy, military-grade arms such as grenade launchers and .50-calibre machine guns.

Duarte said the pilot was able to make a somewhat controlled, though extremely rough landing, which he said would have been unlikely if the aircraft had been hit by a heavy weapon.

Police said 10 presumed traffickers were killed during the fighting in the slum, including three suspects found dead inside a vehicle. Officials gave no details on the other seven.

They said at least eight buses were set on fire in other slums. Television images showed motorists fleeing for cover as automatic-weapons fire crackled in broad daylight amid the worst violence the city has seen in months.

Images broadcast by Globo TV showed flames shooting from the helicopter wreckage, with little more than charred pieces and an intact tail remaining after the fire was doused.

Rio police frequently use helicopters to take on gangs that dominate drug trafficking in the city's more than 1,000 slums, but were unable to say whether this was the first time one of their helicopters had been shot down by gang members.

The crash happened about eight kilometres southwest of one of the zones where Rio's 2016 Olympics will be located. The city on Oct. 2 was picked over Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo to host the games. Rio alone among the bid cities was highlighted for security concerns ahead of the International Olympic Committee vote.

The downing of the helicopter happened amid intense firefights involving rival gangs in the slum as one tried to seize a rival's territory, authorities said.

Police moved into the area before dawn, though gunfire continued throughout the day, keeping terrorised residents inside their homes as bullets slammed into apartment buildings. Duarte said late in the day that the areas were under control.

Despite increased policing efforts, Rio remains one of the world's most dangerous cities. The violence generally is contained within slum areas, though it sometimes spills into posh beach neighbourhoods and periodically shuts down the highway that links the international airport to tourist destinations.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and other officials have played down the threat of violence for the Olympics, saying Rio has repeatedly demonstrated it can pull off big events without risk to players and spectators.

Rio held the Pan-American Games in 2007 without major incidents, deploying more than 15,000 specially trained officers to keep the peace.

- AP

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10603957

[praetor]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/17/rio-favela-violence-helicopter


Twelve dead and helicopter downed as Rio de Janeiro drug gangs go to war

Host city of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics shaken by violence as warlords battle for control of the cocaine trade

[praetor]

October 17, 2009

ASSOCIATED PRESS

RIO DE JANEIRO — Drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter and killed two officers in a burst of drug-based violence just two weeks after the city won the 2016 Olympic games. Three suspected drug traffickers were also killed.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/1830982,rio-violence-helicopter-shot-down-101709.article

[envivision]

October 17, 2009

ASSOCIATED PRESS

RIO DE JANEIRO — Drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter and killed two officers in a burst of drug-based violence just two weeks after the city won the 2016 Olympic games. Three suspected drug traffickers were also killed.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/1830982,rio-violence-helicopter-shot-down-101709.articleDamn those eurotrash liberals!

They must be shitting in their pants for making the two most ludracis decisions of the last century :

First they awarded the Olympics to Rio which it did not deserve,

then they awarded the Nobel prize to unworthy Obama.

And the liberals in this country want to turn this place into Europe....

[Teydyn]

Damn those eurotrash liberals!
Eurotrash is so much worse then US trash? I dont think so.


Sara Palin 2012
You ARE joking, right?

[Coroner]

He´s not joking. He´s just stupid, Teydin. The violence news from Brazil aren´t surprising me. Sad.

[praetor]

Pals.

this kind of violence be part of our day-by-day here in Rio de Janeiro, since the of the 80's. Increased after successive populist governments.

[tao1kiku]

Rio is a beautiful city, amazing people, but stupidly dangerous.

[sugdaddie69]

It wouldn't have been much difference had Chicago got it.

[beany06795]

I was in Rio last week, walked around on my own late at night, drunk at times, lost at times and did not get any problems whatsoever. I saw one Police car all week. I live in London, and you hear a police cars siren every 2/3 hours. I get the feeling this stuff happens in the favela's fairly regular, albeit on a slightly smaller scale, and if it wasn't for Rio getting the olympics, this incident would not even have been reported.

[frank]

The reason this maybe happening is because the government is make a real push to gain control of the most violent of Favalas before the world cup. This campaign started 2 years ago. It has been successful in many of the 930 favelas in Rio. The biggest criminal gangs live in the biggest neighborhoods and they are trying to consolidate power.

I was just in Rio and in a couple of Favelas. A Favela isn't always a slum. It is essentially a squatter home that grown into a squatter community. Not all are plagued with violence. Many are just poor neighborhoods that subsist and get by.

[envivision]

What Rio needs is a George W. Bush type of leader. He shoots first and ask questions later.

Only a tough politician with balls would be able to clean Rio once and for all. And their ultra-liberal 'kennedy-esque' crime laws is the main cause of the violence. Anyone under 18 gets a slap on the wrist for whaterver crimes he commits, including murder. An adult will get a max. sentence of 15-25 years for murder.

Excecute the murderers and see the violence drops n Rio as fast as Clinton drops his pants in a Nevada brothel.

[trish]

Two most what decisions?

[notdrunk]

It wouldn't have been much difference had Chicago got it.

Actually, it would be different. Rio's murder rate is a lot higher than Chicago. I think it is 2x the rate. Furthermore, I cannot recall a Chicago Police Department Helicopter being shot down recently.

[phobun]

The Brazilian president's sash fits him as leader of a Banana Republic.

http://www.hungangels.com/board/files/lula_139.jpg

[Coroner]

To have da Silva as president is still better than somebody like him:

http://theroyalhighness.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/pinochet.jpg

He was a Chilean Nazi dictator but not the only one in South America.

[praetor]

To have da Silva as president is still better than somebody like him:

http://theroyalhighness.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/pinochet.jpg

He was a Chilean Nazi dictator but not the only one in South America.

Dear pal Coroner, "Da Silva" supports governments like Hugo Chaves, Fidel Castro and the peruvian coca. So i ask you, are they democrats or dictators?

[sugdaddie69]

He should be President in Rio