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RIO DE JANEIRO — Police raided gang-ruled shantytowns Wednesday, setting off clashes that killed 14 people as authorities try to halt a wave of violent crime in a city that Brazil hopes to make a showplace for the 2016 Olympics.
Police invaded the Vila Cruzeiro community and surrounding slums early in the day, engaging in intense gun battles. Twenty-five people were detained.
“We didn’t start this war,” police spokesman Henrique de Lima Castro Saraiva said. “We were provoked, but we will emerge victorious.”
Over the past three days, 21 people have been killed and about 150 arrested.
