The death toll from a massive police raid on a notorious drug gang in Rio de Janeiro has climbed to 119, including four police officers, Brazilian authorities confirmed on Wednesday. The operation, one of the deadliest in Brazil’s history, has drawn sharp criticism from rights groups and international observers.
The large-scale raid, which unfolded on Tuesday, involved more than 2,500 police officers and soldiers targeting members of the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) gang. Hours of intense gunfire erupted across two low-income neighbourhoods, leaving residents terrified and streets littered with bodies.
“That’s cowardly, it’s carnage,” said Carlos da Silva, a 44-year-old community leader. “You only see this in wars like Iraq or Gaza. It looked like a tsunami hit us. There were bodies everywhere.”
Schools and a local university in the area were closed, while major roads were blocked as buses were turned into barricades. The scene, witnesses said, resembled a war zone.
The UN Human Rights Office condemned the bloodshed, expressing alarm over what it called a “cycle of extreme brutality.”
“We understand the challenges of confronting violent criminal groups,” said Marta Hurtado, the UN Human Rights spokesperson for Brazil. “But the long list of operations resulting in many deaths which disproportionately affect people of African descent raises questions about how such raids are conducted. Brazil must break the cycle of extreme brutality and ensure police actions comply with international standards on the use of force.”
Rio’s state government defended the operation, insisting that those killed had resisted arrest. Officials argued that the raid was necessary to dismantle one of the country’s most powerful and violent drug syndicates.
However, the staggering death toll has reignited debate over police violence, racial profiling, and the government’s controversial tactics in its long-running war on organised crime.
Human rights advocates have repeatedly accused Brazilian security forces of excessive and indiscriminate use of force, particularly in poor, predominantly Black communities.
The Rio raid now ranks among the deadliest police operations in Brazil’s modern history, underscoring the deep divisions over how far authorities should go in confronting the country’s entrenched criminal networks.
Melissa Enoch
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