Police fire rubber bullets at inmates

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January 17, 2017 3:56 PM

Gruesome violence at a prison in the northwestern city of Manaus killed about 60 inmates on January 1.

Prisoners use makeshift shields as riot police fire rubber bullets during a rebellion at the Alcacuz jail near the northeastern city of Natal on January 17, 2017

Brazilian police fired rubber bullets Tuesday at inmates on the grounds of a jail where dozens were massacred over the weekend in the latest in a string of prison riots.

Police positioned on top of the outer walls of the Alcacuz jail near the northeastern city of Natal fired at inmates who had taken control of part of the complex.

A total of 26 prisoners were killed in Alcacuz -- many of them beheaded -- during a violent riot that broke out late Saturday, according to officials.

Police said they had stormed the prison and ended the uprising on Sunday morning, but numerous prisoners appeared to still be loose within the complex.

Dozens of them massed in the open air between the prison blocks and the outer walls of the complex, where they erected barriers of furniture.

Others stood with flags on the partially-destroyed roof.

The weekend bloodbath was the third major massacre to hit Brazil's overcrowded jails this month, all of them thought to involve suspected drug gangs.

Officials said two rival gangs clashed in the overcrowded Natal jail.

Gruesome violence at a prison in the northwestern city of Manaus killed about 60 inmates on January 1. Many prisoners were beheaded and mutilated.

A further 33 died in a riot in Roraima state on January 6.

The Natal massacre raised fears that the wave of violence could spread across the country.

"Authorities are playing a dangerous game by underestimating the scale" of the crisis in the prison system, said Renata Neder, a human rights advisor at Amnesty International in Brazil.

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