ISPORTCONNECT / RIO DE JANEIRO: A special riot force has been launched to help Brazilian police control the street protests expected during the World Cup later in June and July.

Colonel Alexandre Augusto Aragon, head of the elite National Security Force, has announced that 10,000 riot troops selected from state police forces throughout Brazil will be deployed in the 12 venue cities.

He said: “We’ve have been concerned with this (security during the World Cup) before the protests that took place earlier this year, because we don’t wait around for things to happen. The violence of recent protests is what scared us.”

At the peak of the protests during the Confederations Cup last June, more than one million people took to the streets across Brazil. Complaints escalated from targeting bus fares increases to corruption and poor public services and then the expenditure on the World Cup and Rio 2016 Olympics.

Jerome Valcke, secretary-general of world football federation FIFA, has said recently that the tournament would have “the highest level of security you can imagine” to contain any violence.

Valcke said he was satisfied with the police response during the protests seen in the six Confederations Cup host cities.

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