Madonna knows how to strike a pose, as she once sang in her global dance hit Vogue.

Now a photograph of the pop star dressed in combat fatigues posing with armed military police in the Rio de Janeiro favela of Rocinha has set off a social media storm.

The image was posted on Instagram and Twitter on Wednesday, two days after officers shot dead a Spanish tourist as she left the same slum.

It brought an immediate reaction. Social media users said the pose was “disrespectful”, glamorised violence and poverty in Brazilian slums and glorified the police.

“Madonna seems 2 b having fun in a Favela in Rio, where locals get shot & die every day,” wrote Lavinia Hollanda on Twitter.