The daily migrations of the large group of drug users – called Cracolândia – throughout the central region of São Paulo continues to cause conflicts. Authorities try without success to find a solution to the issue. Meanwhile, addicts spread to new spots and even face conflicts with residents and business owners. The most recent episode took place on Thursday (09/11), when a group of residents of a building occupied 18 years ago by families protested and blocked access to Rua Mauá. They stood for hours in front of the access to the street to prevent the group of addicted people from moving there.
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Tension
Residents of an occupation on Rua Mauá blocked access to the road on the afternoon of this to prevent entry and stay in the location of the Cracolândia flow, as the concentration of crack users in the central region of the city of São Paulo is called. The human wall had approximately one hundred people and was mostly made up of women and children.
Hundreds of users arrived very close to the cordon at 17:00, but left the area around 17:30, led by the Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM). They returned to Rua dos Protestantes, less than 500 meters away. There was no confrontation.
At the time of the displacement, the Civil Police were carrying out routine operations in the region, supported by the GCM.
Representatives of the residents of the occupation claim that Thursday would be the third consecutive day that the GCM takes drug users from Rua dos Protestantes so they could spend the night on Rua Mauá.
GCM statement
Division inspector Paulo Breves, head of communication at GCM, told Folha that the guard does not determine the movement of the flow, but, instead, monitors it to ensure the safety of citizens, public and private property and the users themselves. He states that, in many cases, users migrate to places where there is less chance of conflict with residents or traders and, also, to places where there is a greater chance of obtaining valuable objects, found in the trash, to exchange for crack.
New Occupied Areas
Amid police operations that have been trying to dispel the concentration of drug users in Cracolândia for a year and a half, groups of drug addicts began to seek shelter under overpasses and inside busy tunnels in the central region of São Paulo.
Two addresses have registered an increase in the flow of drug addicts for at least three months, according to reports from local residents and workers, and monitoring of the report during this period. They are the end of the Júlio de Mesquita Filho viaduct, under Franklin Roosevelt square, to the beginning of the elevated president João Goulart (Minhocão), in Consolação; and the section adjacent to the José Roberto Fanganiello Melhem tunnel, which connects Avenida Paulista to Avenida Rebouças.
Traffic, Risk of Accidents and Robberies
In some of the occupied locations, vehicle traffic is quite intense. Still, users constantly cross from one side to the other, despite the risk of being run over. Moreover, to acquire more drugs, addicts commit petty crimes, like thefts. Sometimes they target parked vehicles, or items in public structures. In other occasions, they can even surround drivers in their vehicles and carry out mass robberies or mass thefts.
An incident happened on 19 October, when a driver ran over 16 drug users who were at the intersection of Avenida Rio Branco and Rua dos Gusmões, in Santa Ifigênia. The action would have occurred after the driver was robbed by drug addicts.
Analysis:
This situation in the central region of São Paulo has significantly increased the number of property crimes. Despite law enforcement operations and even pressure from residents, business owners and society as a whole, no solution has been found. The daily migrations have now been occurring for more than a year, and no improvements appear on the horizon. Activities in this region, such as the movement of employees, should be cautious. At night, it becomes a no-go-zone.
Source: G1
