Close to 2.5 Million Revelers in Rio Over Carnaval Weekend

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Carnaval weekend hosted over two million revelers on the streets of the city of Rio de Janeiro, the Rio de Janeiro city government said on Monday, February 24th.

On Sunday, approximately 54 blocks paraded, totaling 1.4 million people celebrating at the world’s most popular festival. With these numbers, the weekend now totals close to 2.5 million Rio de Janeiro residents and tourists enjoying Carnaval.

Blocks

In Flamengo park, Bangalafumenga gathered 500,000 people, while in Leblon, the festival was led by the Areia block, which gathered 385,000 people. The traditional Boitatá block performed in downtown Rio and entertained 80,000 revelers.

TocoXona, in Flamengo, preached diversity and entertained 25,000 revelers. In Ipanema, the traditional Simpatia é Quase Amor held its second parade and Toca Raul excited Raul Seixas fans at Tiradentes Square downtown, in the late afternoon.

Social Assistance

Teams from the Secretariat of Social Assistance and Human Rights conducted 2,958 interventions to distribute informative material and 619 identification bracelets to children and adolescents accompanied by their parents until the early hours of Sunday.

The Espaço de Proteção de Crianças e Adolescentes (Children and Adolescents Protection Area), located at the Praça Onze Square, is sheltering children from the age of two to 11 years and 11 months in situations that infringe their rights. The facility will be open until today, February 25th, from 6 PM to 6 AM. The service will also be available next Saturday, February 29th, during the same hours.

Vehicles

The Parking and Towing Inspection Coordination (CFER), linked to the Municipal Department of Public Order (SEOP), removed 267 vehicles throughout the city by 5 PM on Sunday, with 78 removals in areas where Carnival blocks parade and around the Sambadrome.

Since last Friday, February 21st, when Operation Carnival began, the CFER towed 734 cars (124 of which in block passages and in the Sambadrome) and recorded 32 violations in the city’s parking areas. The operation is being assisted by 40 trailers parked at strategic points. Assistance is also provided on channel 1746. Details on towed vehicles are available on the website.

Urban Control

On Sunday, the Undersecretary of Licensing, Inspection and Urban Control of the Municipal Treasury Department, carried out planning operations in several carnaval blocks in the city. The Urban Control Coordination (CCU) seized two badges from unregistered sales promoters in the Bangalafumenga and Areia blocks.

The operations also resulted in the seizure of 520 kilos of perishable foodstuffs. Since the start of Carnaval, the CCU has seized 2,717 items such as bottled gas cylinders and alcoholic beverages sold in glass bottles, both items banned by law in the Carnaval street blocks.

The Coordination of Licensing and Inspection (CLF) has also operated in the main blocks in the center and in the west and south zones of the city. The focus was the inspection of unauthorized advertising and ambush marketing. Ambush marketing is all parallel advertising that calls for or is in any way associated with events lacking the appropriate authorization from its organizers.

Irregular advertising and promotional actions were detected in the Areia, Bangalafumenga, Laranjada Samba Clube, Banda do Bairro Peixoto and Banda do Recreio blocks. The kiosks on the Barra da Tijuca and Recreio dos Bandeirantes shoreline in the west zone were inspected but no irregularities were detected. The CLF also inspected commercial establishments in Leblon, south zone, and Cinelândia, central region, which were notified for irregular occupation of sidewalks.

Health Surveillance

The Rio Undersecretary of Sanitary Surveillance inspected 23 blocks in several of the city’s neighborhoods. Conducted by Sanitary, Health and Food Inspection Coordination technicians, the operations resulted in 21 infractions, 15 of them due to the lack of vehicle health licenses and even for holding the event, five due to incomplete teams and one due to lack of a medical post.

Considering the inspections carried out since Friday, February 21st, the Sanitary Surveillance Service operated in 63 blocks, totaling 37 infractions, most of them due to lack of sanitary licensing.

Municipal Guard

The Rio Municipal Guard has conducted several urban planning and traffic control and inspection operations in support of Carnaval blocks in all regions of the city.

The teams worked in Bangalafumenga; Princesinha do Recreio, in Recreio dos Bandeirantes; Cordão do Boitatá; Simpatia é Quase Amor; Bloco Areia, in Leblon, among others, according to the report released by Rio’s City Hall.

The Municipal Secretariat of Healthy Aging, Quality of Life and Events found an unauthorized block parading through several streets in downtown, called Boi Tolo. The entire route of the block was monitored and recorded by the Operations Center’s cameras. The people in charge of the block are already being identified by the City Hall’s Intelligence Service and will be fined by the Municipal Urban Cleaning Company (COMLURB), according to the amount of garbage generated.

The city hall stressed that as this is an unauthorized block, the parade was not attended by municipal guards or the State Police.

CET-Rio

The traffic operation carried out during Carnival by the Traffic Engineering Company of Rio de Janeiro (CET-Rio) includes 260 employees. On Sunday, traffic blocks and the Sambadrome and blocks were completed without any major inconvenience, said the municipal administration’s press office.

Mobilization

The Rio de Janeiro City Hall’s Operations Center (COR) has continued its mobilization stage since 8:30 AM Saturday, February 22nd. According to the Rio Alert System, the ocean’s humidity heading towards the continent may still cause light rain in some neighborhoods in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Until March 1st, the COR will rely on the support of the Carnaval Operation Committee, which includes the entities involved during the festivities.