SAO PAULO'S STATE GOVERNOR SAID GANG VIOLENCE THAT HAS ROCKED BRAZIL'S BUSINESS CAPITAL SAO PAULO IN THE PAST WEEK SHOULD SERVE AS A WARNING TO BRAZIL'S RICHER CLASSES THAT THE COUNTRY'S DEEP SOCIAL INEQUALITIES WERE TEARING IT APART, REUTERS REPORTED. GOVERNOR CLAUDIO LEMBO, IN A FULL-PAGE INTERVIEW PUBLISHED IN LEADING NEWSPAPER FOLHA DE S.PAULO, ALSO DENIED POLICE WERE CARRYING OUT MASSACRES TO QUELL THE VIOLENCE, IN WHICH ABOUT 140 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED SINCE LAST FRIDAY. "ALL THIS HAS BEEN A BIG WAKE UP FOR BRAZIL. THE SOCIAL SITUATION IS THE CANCER FOR CRIME AND IT IS BIGGER THAN WE IMAGINED," HE SAID. BRAZIL'S MOST POWERFUL CRIMINAL GANG, THE FIRST COMMAND OF THE CAPITAL (PCC), UNLEASHED A WAVE OF BLOODSHED IN SAO PAULO CITY AND STATE LAST FRIDAY NIGHT IN RETALIATION FOR THE TRANSFER OF JAILED GANG LEADERS AND MEMBERS TO A REMOTE HIGH-SECURITY PRISON. SOME 30 POLICEMAN WERE KILLED IN ATTACKS ON POLICE POSTS, VEHICLES AND OFF-DUTY OFFICERS. DOZENS OF BUSES WERE ALSO SET ABLAZE. RELATED UPRISINGS BROKE OUT IN DOZENS OF PRISONS ACROSS THE STATE TO DEMAND BETTER CONDITIONS. THE ATTACKS CAUSED PANIC AND CHAOS IN SAO PAULO, THE WORLD'S THIRD LARGEST METROPOLIS WITH A POPULATION OF 20 MILLION. IT HAD LARGELY SUBSIDED BY MIDWEEK AFTER POLICE KILLED AROUND 100 SUSPECTED GANGSTERS IN OPERATIONS THROUGH POOR DISTRICTS OF THE CITY. HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS, WHILE CONDEMNING THE GANGSTERS, HAVE EXPRESSED CONCERN THE POLICE ARE RESORTING TO EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS TO STAMP OUT THE VIOLENCE. LEMBO, ASKED IF THE POLICE WERE CARRYING OUT REVENGE ATTACKS IN WHICH INNOCENT PEOPLE MAY BE KILLED, SAID THE POLICE WERE UNDER CONTROL. "I SPOKE FOR A LONG TIME WITH COLONEL ELIZEU ECLAIR AND I AM CONVINCED THAT THEY ARE ACTING WITHIN THE LIMITS," LEMBO SAID. "THERE ARE CLASHES EVERY NIGHT IN THE STREETS. THE POLICE ARE ACTING TO AVOID THE WORST FOR SOCIETY." --More
