Trouble, strife hit Rio police as Carnival starts
(Updates police resignations, death toll)
By Rodrigo Viga Gaier
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Dozens of senior police officers in Rio de Janeiro resigned on Wednesday to protest the dismissal of a commander, throwing the Brazilian city's security forces into crisis as its famed and raucous Carnival celebrations began.
Police killed six suspected drug traffickers in clashes in two slums, or favelas, in a reminder of the violent reality of the city behind the festivities.
But the public security chief said he was confident Carnival would go ahead peacefully.
"There is a command and it will take the decisions it has to take. I have faith in the Rio police," security chief Jose Mariano Beltrame told reporters. "People can be calm. Rio has a history of a calm Carnival."
About 700,000 Brazilian and foreign tourists are expected to pack the oceanside city for the five days of drinking, dancing, partying and samba parades with scantily clad Carnival beauties.
The celebrations officially opened on Tuesday, a few days earlier than usual, when Rei Momo, the Lord of Misrule, was handed the keys to the city. The action will reach a frenzy this weekend.
More than 4,400 police will be on duty but security measures were thrown into confusion when at least 47 officers of the Military Police, a uniformed force that patrols the streets, quit to protest the sacking of their commander Col. Ubiratan Angelo.
They included the commanders of 17 of the state's 39 battalions.
Gov. Sergio Cabral dismissed Ubiratan after he allowed a mass police protest for more pay to go ahead at the weekend, saying it amounted to insubordination.
Cabral downplayed the crisis and said the rebels would not be permitted to destabilize the force.
"They are just trying to cause confrontation, trouble and disorder in the Military Police," he said, quoted by Globo news.
As street parties began in some areas of Rio, police backed by helicopters and armored cars raided two favelas in an operation against drug traffickers.
Six people were killed and five wounded. Earlier, police had put the death toll at nine people.
"It began early. There was a tremendous firefight and I was too scared to leave the house to go to work," one resident of the Jacarezinho favela told Reuters.
The clashes spilled over into the neighboring Mangueira favela -- home to one of the city's best-known samba groups -- when traffickers tried to flee the police invasion.
Many of Rio's slums are under the control of drug gangs who sell cocaine and marijuana to the middle and upper classes. Police usually enter in military-style operations and have been criticized by human rights groups for brutal tactics and indiscriminate killings. (Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
