Soldiers called in to replace striking cops
Published:Wednesday | February 8, 2012 | 12:00 AM
SALVADOR (AP):
As many as 300 striking police officers and their relatives held out yesterday as heavily armed soldiers blockaded a state legislature building in northeastern Brazil.
About 1,000 soldiers and officers from an elite federal police unit ringed the building in the Bahia state capital of Salvador, Brazil's third-largest city with 2.7 million people and a scheduled host for matches during the 2014 World Cup.
The striking officers, some armed with handguns, were demanding pay raises and amnesty for what a judge ruled an illegal work stoppage.
Authorities said some children and wives of officers were inside the building, but it was not clear how many. Some had left during the previous 24 hours.
About one-third of Bahia's 30,000 police went on strike a week ago, and murders in the capital's metropolitan area immediately spiked to double normal rates. Official say there have been at least 100 murders since January 31, when the strike began.
taken up posts
But violence has plummeted after some 2,000 troops and 600 elite federal police were sent in Sunday and began patrolling the city in armoured personnel carriers.
Soldiers in camouflage and toting long rifles have taken up posts on street corners in the city's historic centre and on its beaches, where tourists are concentrated. Schools were mostly shut, many businesses were closed and the streets were unusually empty.