RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil's government authorized deployment of troops Monday to the coastal city of Vitoria, which has been left at the mercy of criminals following a police strike.
Soldiers were being sent "due to the serious public safety situation" at the request of the state of Espirito Santo, the defense ministry said in a statement. Troops will deploy mostly to the state capital Vitoria, northeast of Rio de Janeiro.
Defense Minister Raul Jungmann was also due in Vitoria later Monday.
Police, aided by relatives and sympathizers blockading police stations, have been protesting against unpaid salaries in Vitoria since early Saturday. With no patrols on the streets over the weekend, assaults and other crime have multiplied, Brazilian media reported.
Globo television on Monday broadcast cellphone footage of burned and smashed buses, looted shops, carjackings and a crowd running in panic from what appeared to be gunshots.
Students meant to be heading to their first day of school stayed at home and classrooms will remain shuttered "depending on the security situation," a spokesman for the mayor's office in Vitoria said.
State security chief Andre Garcia said on his Facebook page that the police chief had been replaced and that the new commander was tasked with "restoring order and discipline."
Talks would take place with the disgruntled officers "but with the fundamental condition that police are put on the streets," he said. "All possible means will be used to police the streets."
Greater Vitoria has a population of more than 1.8 million people, while a total of 3.9 million live in Espirito Santo state.