Rio de Janeio police strike a danger for Carnival

The work stoppage will force authorities to deploy thousands of soldiers into the streets to provide security in this city of 6 million people that will host the 2014 World Cup finals and the 2016 Olympics.

A measure approved Thursday by Rio's legislature gave police, prison guards and firefighters a 39 percent raise staggered over this year and the next, along with a promise of more in 2014. But the increase is just half of what officers sought.

Union leader Helio Oliveira, a major with Rio state police, said officers' salaries have been devaluing for decades, and 56,000 officers and guards decided to walk out in protest of what they said was an insufficient raise.

"What was approved today does not meet our demands," he told The Associated Press by telephone before the strike vote. "It's half of what we want, and won't be given all at once. We want a new proposal, with a salary offer that is enough to meet our needs."

The decision to strike was made by thousands of officers and firefighters gathered downtown in a raucous six-hour assembly, with fireworks, chants and speeches denouncing Rio's government.

Some longtime officers were proud of bringing together for the first time Rio's security forces in a joint strike.

"I feel like a citizen," said Jo Morais da Silva, a retired police officer who was shot on the job, losing an eye and damaging his shoulder. "I feel like we're standing here asking for what's our right."

Current base pay for police starts at US$964 in Rio state, which has long paid its officers far less than the salaries given by many other Brazilian states to their police forces.

A walkout by security forces could be disastrous for Brazil's Carnival, the world's largest, which draws about 800,000 tourists and is slated to begin Feb. 17.

In Salvador, Brazil's third largest city, a 10-day-old walkout by police has produced a spike in violence and homicides. That city's Carnival is Brazil's second largest, and while officials vow it will go on, many visitors have canceled their trips to the city.

The work stoppages are also threatening to spread elsewhere in Brazil. The newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported officers in seven of Brazil's 26 states as well as the federal district are considering their own strikes: Roraima, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Goias, Espirito Santo, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul.

Rio's festivities pump more than US$500 million into the city's economy annually, and some street parades can attract nearly 2 million drunken revelers at a time.

Rio Gov. Sergio Cabral had urged officers to obey their sense of duty and responsibility.

"You cannot have a strike in essential services like public safety," Cabral said at a news conference. "Rio de Janeiro doesn't deserve this."

Sergio Simoes, head of Rio's Civil Defense department, said the army was prepared to free up 14,000 soldiers to patrol the streets of Rio state if police went on strike.

Rio's police are among the lowest paid in the nation, although the state is the second-highest grossing, after Sao Paulo. Brazil's economy has boomed in recent years, and so has the cost of living. Rio de Janeiro now ranks among the most expensive cities in the Western Hemisphere.

Police in Brazil, and in Rio in particular, also have deep structural and cultural problems. They've been unable to shake corruption within their ranks; many say their low pay makes it difficult to root out bribery and other illegally increasing revenue.

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