Can the IOC change their mind about sending millions of foreign nationals to Rio? Make it Spain, I'll let the Chicago fantasy go. They brought down a helicopter! Here is the intense article in its entirety from watoday.com. hese are actual pictures from what happened. This is scary to me, because if I went to Rio chances are high I will be on busses and a chopper or two.
At least 12 people have been killed and a helicopter downed in fierce clashes between gangs and police in Rio de Janeiro weeks after the city won its bid to host the 2016 Olympics.
Two policemen were killed and two were wounded when their helicopter was shot down by drug gangs in running battles in the slums of northern Rio, said military police commander Mario Sergio Duarte. During exchanges of fire with police at the weekend, eight gang members lost their lives and six were wounded, including two civilians, a policeman and three gang members, a Public Security Secretariat official said.
Nine buses were also set on fire in other neighbourhoods close to a shanty town known as Morro dos Macacos, in retaliation for a police operation aimed at controlling heavy gun battles between rival drug gangs in the area.
Rio's win to host the 2016 Olympic Games, the first to be held in South America, is a serious challenge for a city plagued by endemic urban violence. About 6000 people were murdered here last year alone.
On Saturday, the dramatic clashes erupted as gangs in the neighbouring shanty of Morro do Sao Joao tried to invade Morro dos Macacos and seize control there, officials said.
A police helicopter pilot was then hit in the leg by gunshots and had trouble landing. The aircraft exploded shortly after landing and only two policemen - including the pilot - were able to get out in time. Two other passengers died.
After the helicopter crashed a new gunbattle erupted between gangs and more than 100 policemen, backed by Special Police Operations Battalion troops and an armoured vehicle.
''I have never heard so many gunshots in my life,'' a 15-year-old girl who lives in Morro dos Macacos told the G1 website of the Globo media network.
Bus driver Fabio Nascimento said 15 masked men armed with guns and pistols had ordered him to step out of his vehicle and evacuate passengers, declaring: ''Get out, get out, we are going to light it on fire.''
The president of the Organisation of Lawyers of Brazil in Rio denounced the parallel network of power in the city where in some areas gangs hold more control than authorities.
''This power humiliates, kills and blows up the pillars of the republic. How far will they go?'' asked Cezar Britto.
The organisation's Rio chief, Wadih Damous, criticised the lack of investment in the hundred or so slums that surround Rio, charging that it is ''no longer acceptable that Rio has neighbourhoods ruled by gangsters''.
In May 2007, shortly after taking power, Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral ordered a massive offensive against organised crime.
