Police, fire-fighters call off strike

RIO DE JANEIRO: Police and fire-fighters in Rio de Janeiro on Monday called off a weakened strike just a few days ahead of Carnival celebrations that will bring thousands of visitors to the city.

Demonstrators no longer were pushing for pay hikes, but for the release of about 30 strikers jailed for taking part in the walkout, Ana Paula Matias, a spokeswoman for military police, told Globo television.

Rio's military police, which are separate from the armed forces, had joined with police and fire-fighter in their action to support a similar strike in the state of Bahia, where troops and federal police were deployed to impose order.

About 9,000 civilian police in Rio de Janeiro state joined the strike that started Friday when military police and fire-fighter walked off the job. Together, the three forces include about 70,000 public workers.

Brazilian law forbids police and fire-fighter from unionizing or striking. Brazilian authorities are scrambling to step up security ahead of major international events to be held in South America's largest country: soccer's World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 summer Olympics.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012