Espirito Santo Brazil real life Purge as Police on Strike

The Brazilian city of Espirito Santo has recently had it’s police force go on strike, and chaos has gripped the city. Many residents are taking to twitter (#PrayForES #Espedesocorro to beg for help as the government has done nothing yet to stop the chaos. Reports from twitter have the count of those killed over the weekend at 51 so far. The President of the Republic Michel Temer has reportedly said he will be sending the Armed Forces and the National Public Security Force to the city, however the timelines are not yet stated. The lack of policing of the streets have created an atmosphere where looting, shootings, carjacking and robbery has run rampant.

Espirito Santo Brazil real life Purge as Police on Strike

Warning** Some of the images on the news link are disturbing**

This is just horrible. Twitter is lighting up concerning this news. It looks like the police have gone on strike and the entire city is falling into chaos. Reports of up to 51 people dead in the street. Roaming gangs are looting everywhere. Carjackings in broad daylight. Shots being heard all over the city. It's getting pretty bad.

I can't help but to think this may be a glimpse into what could happen in a major city here in the US if the SHTF. From the twitter videos it seems like it truly is just lawless chaos with video after video of people looting and shooting it out in the streets. People driving around and swerving to hit pedestrians in a real life version of Death Race.

From what I gather, it looks like the Military Police force cannot go on strike themselves, so their families have barricaded the police station making them unable to get out of the station. They are striking for more wages and better training as Brazil becomes more and more dangerous. This began on Saturday and has become widely known now on Monday. Most schools and universities are on lockdown and have cancelled all classes and events until further notice. They are recommending everyone to stay home and barricade.

It could happen anywhere, really, once that thin veneer or civility wears off. There are dark rivers in the heart of man.
This is very scary and I will be praying for all the good citizens of Espirito Santo (translates to Holy Ghost).

Edit: I'd really be ashamed to be one of those officers on strike atm. No cause is worth letting your city and its inhabitants burn. Surely the officers have some leverage now, but I'd (if I were brave enough to be a Brazilian officer in the first place that is) feel very compelled to break that strike before more death occurred.

a reply to: xmaddness

This is likely to bring down liveleak.

This is anarchy in action.

Without law enforcement the state cannot function and as a consequence society breaks down.

I sincerely hope an agreement can be made so the police can resume their duties and restore order before more people are killed and injured. Just give the police what they want. Better pay and training is not unreasonable.

a reply to: xmaddness

Didn't these people watch Robocop? Don't they know that a police strike means chaos in the streets and that chaos in the streets means cyborgs shooting you in the crotch?

These people need Hollywood.

Police are about to go on strike in several brazilian states, the situation is a mess.

By the way, Espírito Santo is a state, not a city.

Apparently coming under control. Police strike was over unpaid salaries. English language version gives some context to photos

On Sunday the military was sent in.

originally posted by: xmaddness
I can't help but to think this may be a glimpse into what could happen in a major city here in the US if the SHTF.

We've seen police strikes in major cities here in the US and this doesn't happen. The huge difference has to do with poverty levels in Brazil. Almost everyone is relatively poor, with only a few middle class and upper class wealthy. You get more gangs and robberies when there are few jobs and many are poor.

This is the direct result of poor government brought about by the corruption caused by the petro-industry and aided by intelligence agencies. They impeached their president on bull# because she was with the worker's party. Her impeachment was facilitated by corruption and outside money from the elite including the American elite who run the CIA. It was a loss for common people everywhere and another victory for the elites. Next step is austerity measures which will ruin the economy for decades thereby crushing the burgeoning middle-class that had grown so well under President Lula. Another problem is that the co-opted press got the average citizen believing the bull# about President Dilma. So sad, it's such a beautiful country with amazing people.

originally posted by: Byrd

originally posted by: xmaddness
I can't help but to think this may be a glimpse into what could happen in a major city here in the US if the SHTF.

We've seen police strikes in major cities here in the US and this doesn't happen. The huge difference has to do with poverty levels in Brazil. Almost everyone is relatively poor, with only a few middle class and upper class wealthy. You get more gangs and robberies when there are few jobs and many are poor.

Good point.
The lack of police presence doesn't cause anarchy, it is the people that are in the community that cause it.
The rural area that I grew up in in the US had 435 square miles of area patrolled by only one State trooper at a time. People didn't act like that there.

a reply to: butcherguy

A rural area is one thing, but this is a very densely populated area, where the criminals knew there was no police presence. In some cases citizens took it on themselves, in other cases the criminal banded together and took back over.

It looks like the police are starting to venture out on their own and trying to show a presence, to cheering crowds.

This is what industrial capitalist societies create.

Masses of people living in artificial environments with no resources and on top of that it costs money just to survive.
It just takes one thing to go wrong for chaos to ensue, just like with Chicago and Detroit.

If our societies were based on scientific principles, like not having a bigger population than your resource base, this stuff wouldn't happen. Greedy capitalists build up these artificial, industrial hellholes, pack them with people, make a bunch of money, and then abandon them leaving a hellhole.

Detroit is the perfect example. The auto industry brought in people from all over the country and all over the world, and once they made a giant pile of money they pulled out leaving chaos and poverty.

a reply to: xmaddness

a reply to: xmaddness

I noticed this tweet:

Translation:

This is what happens in the city of Epiritu Santo, while the media closes their eyes and pretends that everything is fine

Does this not sound familiar? I see a trend and some similarity to CNN going on in Brazil. And now they are calling basically for martial law.

Anyone else get a feeling that this might become a Global thing especially here within the U.S?

Better arm up because even though it is not happening inside the U.S (yet) what is happening in brazil may as well be a preview of things to come, but on a much larger scale.

I hope things get solved in Brazil.

Anyone else catch that one camera man where the bullet flew past him? Damn (talk about close call)...Thoughts goes out to the people living there...

a reply to: SoulSurfer

The media didn't report anything about this for two days.
They started covering it after a lot of tweets from the people in that area.
They knew what was going on (the president and the media) but didn't report it until they could no longer hide it.
Also the police in that area didn't have a raise in their salary in 7 years that was the reason for the strike.

originally posted by: zosimov
It could happen anywhere, really, once that thin veneer or civility wears off. There are dark rivers in the heart of man.
This is very scary and I will be praying for all the good citizens of Espirito Santo (translates to Holy Ghost).

Edit: I'd really be ashamed to be one of those officers on strike atm. No cause is worth letting your city and its inhabitants burn. Surely the officers have some leverage now, but I'd (if I were brave enough to be a Brazilian officer in the first place that is) feel very compelled to break that strike before more death occurred.

With that you just legitimized the reason for their strike. Of course i agree that it is not fair to the innocent lives in brazil but it is the same for legit police officers as you just un-intentionaly pointed out. They put a very extremely high risk upon themselves every single day. More so then the average citizen in brazil. The need better wages, better training and better equipment and more recourses to be effective. Better wages would reduce corruption among them as well because police that does not make enough money to feed their family coupled with the risks they take does not exactly promote honest policing either.

originally posted by: Byrd

originally posted by: xmaddness
I can't help but to think this may be a glimpse into what could happen in a major city here in the US if the SHTF.

We've seen police strikes in major cities here in the US and this doesn't happen. The huge difference has to do with poverty levels in Brazil. Almost everyone is relatively poor, with only a few middle class and upper class wealthy. You get more gangs and robberies when there are few jobs and many are poor.

Invite them to the U.S then. You know, for diversity's sake and all.

to ATS, first page of this Thread and only a couple of posts using the word 'anarchy' to describe what is happening in Espirito Santo. Does this indicate only a small minority ATS-ers have bought into the career politician/establishment narratives pushed in the MSM that only government and the rule of law can protect people from violent chaos?

a reply to: everyone

You make an excellent point. It is undoubtedly an extremely dangerous job.

It was, however, an intentional comment: I had to admit that I would never want to police broken societies like Brazil, Mexico, etc because to do otherwise would be disingenuous.

People can be sooo depraved; I honestly don't understand the mentality of murders, takers, etc and hope I never do.

We have arrived