World News Gang violence grips Sao Paulo

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SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — The death toll grew in Sao Paulo on May 17 as police killed 22 more suspected criminals. The latest deaths raised the overall death toll to 156 since a wave of violence enveloped Brazil's second-largest city.

The violence was triggered May 11 by an attempt to isolate leaders of the First Capital Command gang, or PCC — who control many of the city's teeming, notoriously corrupt prisons — by transferring eight to a high-security facility far from Sao Paulo.

Using machine guns and grenades, gang members attacked dozens of police installations, burned scores of buses and vandalized 15 bank branches.

Inmates took over 73 prisons and held more than 200 guards hostage. The violence finally ebbed May 16 morning, but Sao Paulo residents said they were still stunned.

"It's a civil war," said Manuela Nascimento, a 24-year-old newsstand worker. "Now I leave my house scared and go to work scared."

The six-day death toll of 156 included 40 police and prison guards.

サンパウロの暴動で多数の死者

サンパウロで起きている暴動で、17日までに死者の数は156人にのぼった。

Shukan ST: May 26, 2006

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