Rio governor hits back at Amnesty over crime policy

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 28 (Reuters) - The governor of Rio de Janeiro state hit back at criticism by rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday, saying his policy of "confrontation" with drug gangs was protecting human rights.

Amnesty said in a report issued earlier in the day that Governor Sergio Cabral had adopted an "increasingly draconian and bellicose public stance on public security," with large-scale police operations that cost hundreds of lives.

The report said that most state police forces in Brazil used "violent, discriminatory and corrupt" methods when combating crime in poor areas and that Rio state was especially guilty. It accused Cabral of abandoning early reform promises.

Cabral told reporters that the real human rights abusers were the heavily-armed drug gangs, who control hundreds of slum areas in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

"We are fighting disrespect for human rights that has been occurring in Rio de Janeiro for many years and we are succeeding by using confrontation," he said.

"They are cowardly bandits, committing massacres ... this is a lack of human rights. I won't tolerate this."

Shootouts between police and suspected drug traffickers occur daily in Rio. On Wednesday, police said they killed 6 suspects in two separate operations. The Globo newspaper Web site reported that an 18-year-old resident was hit by a stray bullet and taken to hospital.

Rio police said they killed 1,260 people in 2007, up about a quarter from a year earlier, and all of the deaths were classified as "acts of resistance."

The United Nations has criticized the lack of official investigations into the killings, some of which are suspected of being summary executions. (Reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Sandra Maler)