Rio de Janeiro’s Secretary of Security, Victor Santos, admitted that there was a failure in planning the reception and monitoring of Peñarol fans. More than 200 people were detained this Wednesday (23), after a widespread riot on Recreio beach, west of the capital of Rio de Janeiro, which saw fires, theft, episodes of racism, vandalism and clashes with the Military Police.
“Public safety is my responsibility. And what I have to do now is look inside and review the entire process, see where there were failures and try to correct them. Lessons learned. Public security is not a mathematical equation, even though it has some predictability, sometimes it gets out of control and this kind of thing happens”, said the secretary at a press conference.
According to Victor Santos, the problems were caused by fans who were on three “stray” buses, a term used for those who did not have prior notice of their trip to the Uruguayan Consulate. He said that it will still be determined whether the “communication failure” was the responsibility of Peñarol, the fans, or the consulate for the secretariat.
“But that doesn’t take away our responsibility, because as soon as they arrived at the edge of Recreio, we had an obligation to know about the past that this crowd had. Once in Copacabana, a Flamengo fan lost his life because of this crowd. Given all this history, we failed to underestimate the number of police officers there, thinking that they could act and contain the three buses that were stopped on the shore”, acknowledged Victor Santos.
The Secretary of Security said that the police force is reinforced for tonight’s game between Botafogo and Peñarol, at the Nilton Santos Stadium, north of Rio, for Copa Libertadores de América.
The more than two hundred fans were taken to the Police City, in Jacaré, a region that houses specialized police stations. Due to the number of people, they had to be located in an auditorium. Among those detained are elderly women and children. The Uruguayan consul went to the scene to help identify the people. All of them will be prevented from watching tonight’s game.
Rio de Janeiro (RJ) 10/23/2024 – Fans of the Peñarol team, from Uruguay, involved in confusion at Recreio dos Bandeirantes taken to the Civil Police City- Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil
It will be up to the delegate responsible for the case to listen to the fans and determine who is responsible for today’s riot. It is also his responsibility to classify the individual crimes committed. Among the possibilities are crimes of damage to property, attempted murder and criminal organization.
So far, only two fans are arrested in the act at the 16th Police Station, one for cell phone theft and the other for carrying a weapon.
According to the secretary, there is also a possible case of racism. Fans allegedly imitated a monkey to offend a black bather on Recreio beach. And residents of Terreirão, a community close to the beach, came to the bather’s defense. But confirmation of the case still depends on the victim’s complaint and the identification of the criminal. Depredations of motorcycles, cars and property belonging to waterfront workers were also recorded. The secretariat’s guidance is that they file a police report and charge the State government for compensation.
