The Rio de Janeiro Military Police and representatives from many of the most traditional Carnaval street parties (known as blocos) reached an agreement that will allow many of them, like Simpatia É Quase Amor, Carmelitas, Orquestra Voadora and Céu na Terra to parade during this year's Carnaval, which starts on Friday (1st).
The parades were dangerously close of being canceled after the police made an unprecedented demand of a formal authorization for the blocos to operate.
The police said on Thursday (28th) that it will release the formal documents, said Rita Fernandes, president of a local bloco association.Until 2016, "Carnaval was completely illegal," and there were no formal papers or authorizations, said Rodrigo Rezende, president of another local bloco association.
Since then, the parties' organizers offered to give authorities more information on where they would gather, and parade, number of expected people, etc.
In 2019, the police requested "a ton of documents". According to both associations, the affected blocos usually gather up to six million people in total and have up to 30 years of existence.
Asked for comment, the military police said that a city law from 2014 demands that they need to authorize such events that promote large gatherings of people.
Translated by Natasha Madov
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