The police force in Brazil's southeastern state of Espirito Santo has rejected a return-to-work agreement aimed at ending a strike that has paralysed several cities and led to an outburst of crime and violence in which more than 130 people have reportedly died over the last week.
The state government announced on Friday that the police officers' union had agreed to end the walkout, which is over wages and work conditions, and said it would drop charges against officers indicted for allegedly participating in the strike, which is illegal for Brazil's so-called Military Police to carry out.
But Gustavo Tenorio, a spokesman for the Espirito Santo Public Safety Department, told the Associated Press news agency on Saturday that the agreement was rejected by those manning the barricades and that the military police officers have refused to go back to work.
That left the state reliant on federal troops, including both members of the military and the national guard, who have been patrolling the streets of several cities since early this week.
Drop in homicides
Raul Jungmann, Brazil's defence minister, who visited Espirito Santo on Saturday said that life was beginning to return to normal now that more than 3,000 federal troops are patrolling the streets.
Jungmann said that, since the troops arrived, looting and break-ins have stopped. He also said there had been a reduction in homicides.
The state has seen an extraordinary wave of violence in the last week, and the union representing civil police officers says 137 people have been killed since military police stopped patrolling.
The state government has not released a death toll.
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