SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Police broke up an illegal party with nearly 600 people in a windowless Sao Paulo nightclub in the early hours of Saturday, highlighting defiance of social distancing rules that has made the country’s outbreak the world’s deadliest at the moment.
COVID-19 killed 12,000 Brazilians over the past week, more than any other country. With 275,000 lives lost in total, Brazil’s death toll lags only the United States, where the epidemic is slowing dramatically.
Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria is among the state and municipal authorities ratcheting up restrictions as Brazil’s outbreak surges to record levels, fueled by more contagious local variants. However, many Brazilians still defy the measures, encouraged by President Jair Bolsonaro, who rails against lockdowns as job-killing and unnecessary.
Sao Paulo officials have taken increasingly dramatic steps to show they mean business, including reinforced ‘blitzes’ to suppress the city’s famous nightlife.
With axes and assault rifles, police officers broke down the door of the nightclub in the city’s Capao Redondo district, piercing the darkness with lights on their guns. Hundreds of young partiers, few of them masked, cowered on the dance floor as police silenced the music and arrested organizers.
