Anti-Olympics Protesters Tear-gassed to Clear a Path for Torch
As the torch reached Rio, a few kms away, 450 heavily armed police battled drug traffickers in the Alemao slum.
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Police used stun grenades and tear gas to clear protesters in the path of the Olympic torch in a poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, two days before South America’s first Olympic Games open under tight security.
The torch that was lit in Olympia earlier in April was delivered by Olympic Brazilian sailors to the host city’s mayor after crossing Guanabara Bay near the end of a 20,000 km journey through one of the world’s largest and most diverse countries.
As the flame landed on terra firma on Wednesday morning, just a few kilometres away 450 heavily armed police battled drug traffickers in the Alemao slum, an area near the international airport and close to the main road to Olympic venues.
Violence Continues Even After Security Doubled
Armed soldiers stood patrol on highways and on many corners throughout the iconic beach city in Brazil’s largest security operation ever.
Around 85,000 police, soldiers and security personnel will be deployed during the 2016 Rio games, more than double the amount in London in 2012, to deter both violent street crime and the threat of attacks by extremists.
Police said anti-government protesters in Duque de Caixas, on Rio’s north side, threw rocks and blocked the torch’s path. Police dispersed them with pepper spray and rubber bullets. Three people were injured by rubber bullets including a 10-year-old girl, local media reported.
A video of the incident spurred social media criticism of the police and amplified complaints that the Games have ‘ignored the poor’.
A representative for the local organising committee called the incident isolated and said the protesters had held up the torch but its route was not changed.
The Torch’s Path Ahead
The Olympic Games torch will visit more towns and return to the city centre on Thursday ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony in the famed Maracanã stadium, site of the World Cup final in 2014.
Some cariocas, as residents of Rio are known, said they were eager to show the world their city is ready for the international spotlight and pleased they had largely delivered venues on time.
While the torch’s tour through 300 cities has generally been smooth, it did spur an international outcry when authorities had to shoot a jaguar after the animal escaped from its handlers at a ceremony in the Amazon city of Manaus.
The name of the final torch bearer is a closely guarded secret, but soccer legend Pele said on Tuesday that he has been invited to light the Olympic cauldron on Friday and was checking availability with his sponsors.
Olympic Games Amidst Brazil’s Recession
The world’s largest sporting event comes to Brazil at a challenging time, in the midst of the country’s worst recession in at least a quarter century and an impeachment trial of a suspended president.
Many residents struggling with the dire economy question the wisdom of hosting the Olympics, a bid Brazil won in 2009 while the economy was booming.
In addition to balking at the $12 billion price tag, protesters are calling for more accountability from elected officials after a massive corruption scandal focused on the state oil company ensnared dozens of high-level politicians.
(This copy has been edited for length.)
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