Rio de Janeiro: About 1,200 Brazilian police supported by armoured vehicles provided by the navy Sunday peacefully occupied the Mare Complex, a group of 15 "favelas", or shantytowns, considered to be the most dangerous in Rio de Janeiro.

A group of girls watch how a PM paramilitary police BOPE special unit sniper secures the area as Brazilian soldiers (not framed) conduct a search for weapons in the Favela da Mare slum complex in the northern surburbs of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 26, 2014. Pic: AFP