Rio de Janeiro’s progress towards the 2016 Games ran into a road block on Wednesday as residents resisting eviction to make way for the Olympic Park took their protest to the streets.



The demonstrators from the Vila Autodromo favela held up traffic on one of the busiest roads into the city during the morning rush hour, causing a three-mile tailback.

Although small compared to a 2013 wave of demonstrations which brought thousands into the streets across the country, Wednesday’s protest highlights the tensions caused by relocations for the Olympics, which will take place in August 2016.

Vila Autodromo is a small favela that occupies part of the main Olympic Park construction site in the upmarket neighbourhood of Barraja Tijuca.

First settled illegally in the 1960s and 70s by fishermen and construction workers at the motor racing track that gives the community its name, Vila Autodromo’s residents have fought off several efforts to move and won a 99-year lease on their land. Until recently, it was home to almost 600 families, but the the Olympic project has broken and divided the community.

With bulldozers now clearing the land for development, the vast majority of residents have left after accepting offers of compensation or alternative modern housing.

But several dozen families are holding out despite increasingly higher offers of compensation, growing intimidation and frequent breaks in their water and electricity supplies.

The pressure on them to leave is growing. Last month, Olympic organisers marked the 500-day countdown to the Games. The first tickets went on sale to the Brazilian public this week.

Rio mayor Eduardo Paes recently signed three decrees calling for the urgent removal of the remaining 58 properties on a site he has declared a public utility. This raises the prospect of a forcible removal, with compensation to be settled later by a court – something the mayor originally insisted would never happen.

The Vila Autodromo community residents association said it was shocked by such an aggressive move while negotiations were still under way. The Brazilian Institute of Architects also denounced the mayor’s move.

This sparked Wednesday’s protest by about 30 people who blocked the road, chanting, beating pans and holding banners.

“We have to challenge the expropriation decree. This is not in society’s interest. It is not legal. It will change our lives, but for whose sake?” said Inalva Brito, one of the protesters. “The Olympics is spitting in our face.”

The municipal government says relocations through negotiation are necessary to modernise the city. They say the land at Vila Autodromo is needed for a security perimeter and access roads to the Olympic Park, but residents and their supporters claim the Games are being used as an excuse to clear the area for luxury apartments that will be sold at a high premium after the event.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have backed their claims, saying there is no justification for the relocation and chastising the authorities for the lack of transparency in their planning.

The residents have successfully leveraged their high profile to secure compensations at and above market rates – something that was previously unheard of for slum clearances.

The financial incentives to leave are growing. One former resident is said to have received 2.7m reals for leaving his home. Some of the holdouts are asking for 5m reals (more than $1.5m). Others, however, insist they do not want to leave whatever the amount offered.

According to a recent report by anti-Olympic group the Popular Committee on Mega–Events and Human Rights Violations, 75% of the 16,700 relocations in recent years have been related to the World Cup and the 2016 Games.

Additional reporting by Shanna Hanbury