This archive report was first published on 2 December 2019.
On December 2, 2019, a tragic incident unfolded in the Paraisopolis favela of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where a police operation led to a deadly stampede.
A unit of 38 military police had been conducting an operation in the southern favela when two men on a motorcycle fired at the troops before fleeing towards a nearby street party, where they continued firing.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Emerson Massera, a police spokesman, the police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades, which sparked the stampede.
Massera stated that some 5,000 people had gathered for a 'funk dance,' a popular weekend street party in poorer districts of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
However, the mother of a 17-year-old girl injured in the incident disputed the police account, claiming that they were to blame for the stampede.
She alleged that police had closed a street, lobbed pepper-gas canisters, and fired rubber bullets, causing the chaos.
"It was a policeman who attacked my daughter with a glass bottle," she said, adding that her daughter's face was deformed and she lost a lot of blood.
The Paraisopolis neighborhood association denounced the police action, stating, "Early this morning, young people were cornered in alleyways and killed. We demand justice."
