RIO DE JANEIRO -- A police strike in northeastern Brazil has shed light on dissatisfaction among officers elsewhere in the country, with some forces threatening to protest as Carnival celebrations start.
The strike by military police demanding higher salaries in the state of Ceara, which led to a senator being shot, is a headache for President Jair Bolsonaro, a staunch supporter of the police who has pledged to curb violent crime.
"Of course, police strikes could spread," said lawmaker Guilherme da Cunha of the state of Minas Gerais, where police obtained a 42% salary increase this year after threatening to strike. "From the moment people who have a monopoly on firearms discover the strength it has, there is a risk."
In Ceara, violent crime has risen sharply during the police strike, with at least 88 people killed over three days, according to online news site G1, citing state officials. Bolsonaro has sent hundreds of national guard forces and 2,500 soldiers to maintain order.
During the strike, Sen. Cid Gomes was shot in the chest as he tried to drive a backhoe through a police protest. He is in stable condition. Earlier that day, masked officers forced businesses to close, occupied barracks and damaged police vehicles.
Mayors in several of the state's small cities -- 30,000 inhabitants or less -- canceled Carnival. In Paracuru, where authorities were expecting 40,000 revelers a day, the mayor said he was no longer able to ensure security in the city's streets.
Even though police strikes are illegal in Brazil, other states are at risk of seeing similar protests, lawmakers and public security experts told The Associated Press.
In Alagoas state, civil police, in charge of investigating crimes, have been on strike for two weeks.
"The governor has made a lot of empty promises to the military police. At some point, that bomb can explode," said lawmaker Davi Maia, who has met police in Congress to discuss their demands.
In Paraiba, military police staged a 12-hour strike Wednesday. In Santa Catarina, public security agents threatened to slow work to a bare minimum, paralyzing operations to an extent but avoiding an illegal strike.
In Rio, one association of municipal guards, who police city parks and properties, began a strike Saturday, during Carnival.
Police strikes aren't new, said Ilona Szabo, co-founder of a security research center, the Igarape Institute. A study by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul showed that between 1997 and 2017, Brazil had 715 police strikes but only 52 by military police.
Many believe police officers are emboldened by the 2018 elections, in which Bolsonaro and other fervent law-and-order supporters were elected. A former army captain, Bolsonaro supported the armed forces during his 30-year legislative career and has said police who kill on duty should be decorated.
Many Brazilian states' finances are in the red, with public servants often receiving partial or delayed salaries. Carnival often proves a good opportunity for public servants to pressure authorities, who fear violence and looting during the festivities.
Last year, public security officers in Minas Gerais also chose February to threaten the newly elected administration of Gov. Romeu Zema Neto with strikes if he didn't adjust their salaries.
The news of a 42 percent pay increase spread rapidly, boosting similar requests in Ceara and other states.
"Minas Gerais granted this increase, in a state that is not paying salaries, and is in a situation of bankruptcy," said Ignacio Cano, coordinator of the Violence Analysis Laboratory at the State University of Rio de Janeiro.
A Section on 02/23/2020