The mayor of Rio de Janeiro said on Monday the 2016 Olympic Games hosts were being “tough” on the problem of security after 16 people died over the weekend in gang-related violence.
A police helicopter was hit by gunfire as it surveyed a turf war under way between drug gangs in the Morro dos Macacos slum in northern Rio.
The aircraft burst into flames after impact, killing two of the officers on board. The incident triggered an assault on slums by police and an intense firefight that led to 14 more deaths.
The fatalities came just weeks after Rio won the right to stage the 2016 Games — the first time the Olympics will take place in South America — and reopened concerns about the safety of the Brazilian city as a venue for the world’s leading sports event.
But Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, speaking at a conference in London on Monday, said: “We never hid our problems [with violence] during the bid process. We’ve always told people we had problems and we are focusing on those problems. We still have a lot to do. We have a long way to go and what happened this weekend shows that.”
“We are being tough with these problems,” he said. “We are sure by 2016 we will deliver the Games and hopefully in a way that the city will be more peaceful and secure for all our citizens. We worry about security for our citizens, for our everyday lives, for the visitors that come on a regular basis and that is our challenge for things as we move forward.”
Meanwhile Craig Reedie, a British member of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board, recalled that a day after London won the right to stage the 2012 Games there were 52 deaths in the British capital following suicide bombings in buses and on the underground railway network.
However, there is now no suggestion London could be boycotted on security grounds.
“The IOC did look at safety. Rio is a big city,” Reedie said. “I deeply regret what happened in Rio recently but I have to say that it pales into insignificance compared to what happened in London in 2005.”
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