The Civil Police operation, with the support of military police and metropolitan civil guards in the center of São Paulo, where the new cracolândia was located, at dawn on Wednesday (11), caused drug users to disperse through several streets in the region.
For just over an hour, between 7pm and 8pm, the Folha traveled by car through several streets in the neighborhoods of Campos Elíseos, Santa Ifigênia, Higienópolis and Bom Retiro. Even in the rain, about 200 people gathered at the corner of Rua do Triunfo and Rua dos Gusmões, to use crack — five blocks from Princesa Isabel. Men and women, some of them with blankets over their shoulders, were talking loudly and hawking crack rocks to anyone who would listen. They were on the sidewalk and also on the road, harming those who intended to transit through the place.
As Folha passed through the street, a Military Police vehicle passed through the flow of people. The car stopped a few meters ahead, faced with the impossibility of approaching traffickers and users. A large contingent of agents from the Metropolitan Civil Guard is now guarding Praça Princesa Isabel to prevent the return of drug users and homeless people. As a result, small groups, with up to 20 people, began to roam around various parts of the region.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon