Protest or Riot?

Photo from globo.com.br

Last Monday, we were in the kitchen getting dinner ready when there seemed to be some sort of commotion outside.  We ignored it since we live in a busy area.  However, it became increasingly difficult to ignore when we started hearing helicopters circling nearby.  We looked out the window at the favela (ghetto) that is near our apartment building and sure enough there were three helicopters circling – one police helicopter and two news helicopters.  We quickly went to turn on the news to find out what happened.  Apparently, there was a “protest” going on inside the favela.  It looked more like a riot.   The perpetrators were smashing in car windows, turning over cars and starting them on fire.  When the police tried to stop it, the perpetrators started throwing rocks, ceramic tiles and whatever they could get their hands on at the police.  They also started throwing anything they could find to keep the fire going and stop the police.  We watched this all safe in our apartment.  We were never in any real danger since the riot was limited to the favela and never crossed the large street that separates our “upscale” neighborhood from the “downscale” favela. 

The police presence in our neighborhood has lasted this whole week.  Twenty mounted police readied their horses near our building and entered the favela to keep order on Wednesday.  There has been the ever-present police helicopter circling over the favela and many military police officers.  These are in addition to the increased local presence.  We really are safe and thankfully everything has calmed down.