School-bus hijacking highlights Rio’s armed-group reach

School-bus hijacking highlights Rio’s armed-group reach
Armed attackers hijacked two school buses on Rio de Janeiro’s Linha Vermelha, using them to block traffic near the Washington Luís highway access after a police operation in Complexo da Maré, according to local reports.

One account said at least eight people on motorcycles stopped two of four buses belonging to Escola Eleva in Barra da Tijuca. It said they threw stones at the windshields, ordered drivers to position the vehicles across the road and took the keys. The buses were carrying students on their way to an excursion in Vassouras, it reported.

A second account described the same basic sequence but placed the children on the return journey from Vassouras and put their number at 120. It said the attackers, after entering the drivers’ cabins, did not harm the children, though the vehicles’ windshields were damaged by stones.

The reports converge on the immediate outcome: students were transferred to replacement buses with police assistance and continued their journey safely. Escola Eleva said its team activated the institution’s security protocol and kept the pupils under supervision.

They also link the blockade to an operation earlier that day in Maré targeting armed criminal activity and weapons circulation, with police describing the road action as retaliation and an apparent effort to draw security forces away from the area. But they differ sharply on the disruption’s duration: one said the expressway was closed for about an hour; the other said it took four hours to reopen.

Commentator Rodrigo Constantino responded on X with a lament for Rio, writing, “What ‘memories’ of my dear Rio de Janeiro!!!”

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