Web users denounce raising violence in Brazil

Violence in Rio de Janeiro

A helicopter patrolling over houses, gun fire ringing out in the hills around Rio de Janeiro, and buses set alight. For residents of the Morro dos Macacos shanty town, who shot these videos, their neighbourhood turned into a veritable battle field this weekend. Rival gangs and police clashed on Saturday, resulting in at least twelve deaths.

This citizen journalist went to the shanty town to report on the violence via his blog. Here we see the place were a military police helicopter crashed, after being shot down by drugs dealers. Two of those on board died in when the helicopter exploded.
 

And in this second video, the blogger remarks on the work carried out by a hundred guardians of the peace, deployed to this northern district of Rio. Several suspected dealers were arrested and a dozen others were killed during and exchange of fire with police.
 

This net user points the finger at the police’s lack of resources. Inadequate salaries, and obsolete equipment, he feels that the authorities are not equipped with the means necessary to fight the gangs, who are on the contrary, very well organised.
 

This video blogger expressed his concern about this flare-up of violence at a time when the city has just been awarded the 2016 Olympic Games..
 

But as recalled cynically by a net user with this modified ‘grand theft auto’ poster, violence is a daily reality in Rio de Janeiro’s shanty towns, where rival gangs clash permanently.

Preserving the world heritage

Preserve world cultural heritage. This is the aim of many organisations and citizens, who are using the web to raise awareness amongst net users about the importance of such a mobilisation.
 

The world fund, based in New York, has just published the top 100 of threatened monuments around the world. Villages, buildings, bridges and other threatened monuments can be consulted via an interactive map. We discover this convent in Bolivia, this Dutch fort in Sri Lanka and New Orleans’ cemetery.
 

Some citizens are launching requests via the web to obtain a nomination on the UNESCO world heritage list of monuments and cities. A university student from Singapore has created a Facebook group to request that at least one site in Singapore is selected.
 

In China, in the wake of riots between the Han and Uighur ethnic groups, in Kashgar, a petition has been launched online. The aim being to grant this city, which is on the former silk route, the status of a world heritage site, to save it from destruction.
 

And many sites are threatened by conflicts but also by natural catastrophes. The Cyark project offers to help preserve world heritage thanks to the creation of virtual representations, which will eventually be available for all. Here we see the famous statues on Easter Island...or the city of Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil.