largodotanque2

City officials undergo forced evictions and demolition of homes in the favela community of Largo Do Tanque, in the west zone, to make room for a new highway that will eventually be built to accommodate the Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. In less than 2 weeks, 54 houses were demolished with sledgehammers and bulldozers. The west zone, located west of downtown and beach neighborhoods is often overlooked and is widely known to be run by militia groups, who are former and current police and firefighter personnel that run extortion rings to monopolies.