Brazilian City with No Police Asks for Military Rescue

The governor of Vitoria in eastern Brazil called Monday for federal troops to come to the rescue after police went on strike, leaving the city at the mercy of criminals.

The acting governor of Espirito Santo state, Cesar Colnago, asked President Michel Temer "to send the National Force and the army to safeguard the security of citizens," a statement on the governor's website said.

Police, aided by relatives and sympathizers blockading police stations, have been protesting against unpaid salaries since early Saturday. With no patrols on the streets over the weekend, assaults and other crime have multiplied, Brazilian media reported.

Globo television on Monday broadcast cellphone footage of burned and smashed buses, looted shops, and a crowd running in panic from what appeared to be gunshots.

Students meant to be heading to their first day of school stayed at home and classrooms will remain shuttered "depending on the security situation," a spokesman for the mayor's office in Vitoria, which is capital of Espirito Santo state, said.

State security chief Andre Garcia said on his Facebook page that the police chief had been replaced and that the new commander was tasked with "restoring order and discipline."

Talks would take place with the disgruntled officers "but with the fundamental condition that police are put on the streets," he said. "All possible means will be used to police the streets."

Greater Vitoria has a population of more than 1.8 million people and is north-east of Rio de Janeiro on Brazil's central Tropical coast. The state has a population of 3.9 million.