Bathers armed with coconuts chase municipal guards off Rio beach

video
Brazil

Rio de Janeiro’s most famous beach, Ipanema, was the scene of a strange fight between municipal guards and dozens of bathers on Tuesday. Clashes reportedly broke out after the police forbade a group of youth from playing “altinha”, a game where players keep a ball in the air by catching it on the sides of their feet. This game is not allowed on the beach before 5 p.m.; the youths were playing it at 4:30 p.m.

The municipal guards say beach-goers hit them with metal bars and pieces of wood. In a video of the scene, however, it looks like they mostly threw beach chairs and coconuts at them.

Several beachgoers have accused the municipal guards of being very aggressive when they approached the group of altinha-playing youths with their batons.

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