Rio 2016: City grapples with wave of crime on beaches as Olympics near

October 07, 2015 04:39

Security has been stepped up along Rio de Janeiro's popular beaches after swarms of robbers attacked beachgoers and local residents responded with more violence.

Just 10 months before the Olympic Games kick off, groups of young thieves have swept through the popular Ipanema and Copacabana beaches grabbing wallets and cell phones.

National television broadcast images of the incidents, setting off panic. In the videos, victims and police try to chase down suspects, scrambling over people packed onto the sand.

In one video, a policeman pulls out his gun in the middle of the beach after being pelted by balls of sand. In another, a British tourist sobs after robbers, she says, stole everything.

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