Brazil: Youth using citizen media to chronicle Rio violence

Young residents in the Complexo do Alemão ^[1] favelas in Rio de Janeiro have begun using social and citizen media to chronicle the recent wave of violence ^[2] spreading through the city. Seventeen-year-old aspiring journalist Rene Silva ^[3] has set up a Twitter account, @vozdacomunidade ^[4] (voice of the community) [pt], to monitor the police occupation of the favela complex, with the related hashtag, #vozdacomunidade ^[5], already beginning to trend. Meanwhile, @Igorcomunidade ^[6] [pt] is also offering updates of what he calls “a guerra do alemão” (Alemão's War), and another group of young locals ^[7] [pt] has started streaming footage ^[8] [pt] of the occupation.