Mob on rampage in Brazil
19/09/2005 22:07  - (SA)  

Rio de Janeiro - A mob of hundreds rampaged through an Amazon town, destroying the mayor's office and house, city hall, police station and courthouse, officials said on Monday.

No one was killed in Goianesia - some 2 200km north of Rio de Janeiro - and only minor injuries were reported in the rampage that began on Saturday night and continued until Sunday before police could control the 500-strong mob.

"We were very lucky no one was killed," state police chief Waldir Freire said by telephone from Goianesia. So far, 13 people have been arrested, Freire said.

Police said they were still investigating what touched off the rioting in Goianesia, a rural town with a population of 35 000.

Local press reports said the trouble began after police refused to investigate the disappearance of a five-year-old girl until she had been missing for more then 24 hours.

But Freire said police believed the rioting was politically motivated.

Mayor's opponents deny involvement

"If you are unhappy with the police you destroy the police station and the courthouse but these people destroyed all sorts of public offices," he said.

The mayor's opponents denied any involvement.

Freire said rioters also burnt buildings housing the health, education and agricultural departments, as well as an agency for helping the mentally ill.

Some 20 official vehicles were also destroyed, including police cars. The mob freed 10 prisoners from the police station jail before burning the building down, Freire said.

Goianesia Mayor Itamar Cardoso, of the government-allied Liberal Party, was in Para state capital Belem on Monday to meet with the state governor.

About 110 police from around the region had been sent to Goianesia to keep the peace.

"The police in the town did not have the conditions to confront a mob of 500 people," Para state police spokesperson Walrimar Santos said by telephone from Belem.

Local newspapers also speculated the rioting was touched off after police thwarted an attempt to lynch a man linked to the rape of 60 women over the past two months. But Santos said only four women had been raped and that no suspect was being held in the case.

The rioting recalled another rampage in Para state last December, when mobs destroyed police stations and a courthouse in two Amazon towns while trying to lynch two men accused of killing a motorcycle taxi driver.

In that incident one man was killed and 44 people were arrested.

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