Nationwide Anti-Murder Operation in Brazil Leads to 968 Arrests

By Newsfeed/AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian police carried out a giant anti-murder operation in nearly every state of the country on Tuesday, May 28th, arresting 968 suspects in a single day, according to the National Council of Civilian Police Chiefs.

The arrests included 56 people suspected of killing through domestic violence or gender-based discrimination.

The efforts were phase two of the unusually large so-called Operation Cronos. In each state, police shared real-time updates of their work on social media, including photos and videos.

“By imprisoning murderers, we hope to prevent future crimes,” Civil Police tweeted in the northern state of Pará.

During Operation Cronos’s first phase in August, police arrested nearly 3,000 people accused of murder, gender-based killings and domestic violence, among other crimes.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, part of the Organization of American States, expressed in early February “deep concern” over gender-based violence in Brazil, noting that at least 126 women had already been killed in gender-based violence in the country so far this year.

(Source: Agence France Press)