NATAL: Stick-wielding inmates hurled stones and lit fires Thursday in a Brazilian jail where dozens were previously massacred, as authorities struggled to contain a spreading wave of gang violence.

Police fired rubber bullets to try to separate two groups of inmates as they fought a pitched battled in the courtyard of the Alcacuz prison in the northern town of Natal, AFP reporters overlooking the facility saw.

The governor of the surrounding Rio Grande do Norte state, Robinson Faria, called for the armed forces to deploy in the streets of Natal after rioting spread beyond the prison.

Globonews television channel showed pictures of injured inmates being evacuated from the jail. Rioting also broke out in six towns in the state, a spokesman for local authorities told AFP. Six cars and a truck were set on fire and seven people were arrested in that unrest, the spokesman said.

One person died and five were hurt during another prisoner uprising in the nearby town of Caico, he said.

On Wednesday, elite officers entered the Alcacuz prison near the northern city of Natal and transferred 220 inmates to another jail. The Alcacuz facility was the scene of gruesome violence between two rival gangs last weekend when 26 inmates were massacred, most of them beheaded.

That was the third major mass-killing in a Brazilian prison this year. So far this year, 134 people have been killed in prison violence, according to the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, citing justice ministry figures.

Troops intervene

Authorities are accused of allowing gangs to run the overcrowded jails. In a bid to wrest back control, the government is deploying 1,000 troops to “clean out” arms, explosives and cellphones from various cellblocks in the country.

Defence Minister Raul Jungmann called the situation a “national emergency.” Brazilian police had stormed the Alcacuz prison early Sunday to halt the bloodbath, but were still not in full control four days later.

Rival groups of prisoners remained loose in the courtyard, sheltering behind barricades of mattresses and furniture. The prison was built for a maximum of 620 inmates but currently houses 1,083, the state justice department said.

Experts say the violence is part of a war between drug gangs battling for control of one of the world’s most important cocaine markets and trafficking routes.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2017