Rio turns into fortress for G20 summit: 25,000 soldiers, cops deployed, thousands security cameras installed

Rio de Janeiro, with usually relaxed security, has now turned into a fortress with 25,000 soldiers and police deployed and thousands of security cameras installed around the city where world leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping have congregated for the two-day G20 summit starting today.

The epicenter of this swirl of activity is the G20 summit venue: Rio’s Museum of Modern Art which is situated on a bay with a view of the city’s impressive Sugarloaf Mountain.

Rio declares 2-day holiday, shuts airport

Streets across Rio are being patrolled by police and soldiers to ensure no untoward incident during one of the biggest summit of the year.

To avoid disruption, two days of public holiday has been declared in Rio starting Monday (November 18).

During the summit, the domestic Santos Dumont Airport, neighbouring the museum, will remain shut with tens of thousands of passengers shifted from there to flights at the more distant Galeao International Airport.

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Navy patrolling intensified

Navy ships have also increased patrolling in nearby waters, including along the famed Copacabana and Ipanema beaches.

Drones & helicopters to monitor things from the sky

According to a report by AFP, as many as 5,000 street cameras have been installed to keep vigil, while drones and helicopters will monitor the situation from the sky.

‘Real challenge’ to ensure trouble-free summit

The AFP report quoted the head of Rio’s municipal G20 organising committee, Lucas Padilha, as saying that it was “a real challenge” to ensure a trouble-free summit.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has signed a security decree authorising the military to step in to maintain public order if exceptional circumstances occurred.

G20 Summit: What’s on agenda

The leaders of world’s leading economy, who have gathered in Brazil for the G20 Summit, will discuss ways to fight poverty, boost climate financing and other multilateral initiatives that could yet be upended by US President-elect Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House.

The G20 Summit is taking place at the same time as the COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan, which has stalled on the issue of greater climate finance for developing countries.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for G20 members, who account for 80 per cent of global emissions, to show “leadership and compromise” to facilitate a deal.

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At the last G20 in India, leaders called for a tripling of renewable energy sources by the end of the decade, but without explicitly calling for an end to the use of fossil fuels.

With inputs from AFP.