Rio de Janeiro Police Strike A Week Before Carnival
Police and firefighters in Rio de Janeiro have gone on strike Friday only a week before Carnival is set to start.
Firefighters, civil and military police made their decision to strike in a joint protest in the center of downtown Rio. They did say that they would keep about a third of their forces on active duty, according to state-run Agencia Brasil.
This follows the strike that hit northeastern Brazil which started on Jan. 31. Police occupied the Bahia State Assembly building for more than a week before leaving the building on Thursday amid worsening conditions and diminishing supplies.
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Rio's police strike includes firemen and state prison guards, but only about 3,000 out of the 70,000-member force assembled downtown in Rio for the protest.
Though Rio's state assembly voted to raise wages by 13 percent, with an additional increase next year, strikers are pushing for more.
In Rio, officials have claimed that the current action is not expected to lead to chaos and the same violent outbreak which residents of Salvador had experienced, due to the fact that the strike leaders in Rio agreed to minimum police levels during the strike.
But as a precaution, authorities have plans in place that would allow for the deployment of more than 14,000 federal troops in Rio and the surrounding areas
President Dilma Rousseff dispatched more than 4,000 troops to Salvador last week in an attempt to restore order and quell the violent outbreak.
"There is a contingency plan," said Colonel Frederico Caldas, a spokesman for the police force. "But it isn't necessary with the current situation."
The police strikes have heightened concerns over the country's ability to provide adequate security for the upcoming 2014 World Cup and the Olympic Games in 2016.
The Brazilian Association of Tourism Agencies stated that 10 percent of tourists who were planning to attend the festivities have already canceled their reservations, according to AP.
