Carnival helps Rio forget crime, recession

RIO DE JANEIRO - The economy is crumbling, public coffers are empty and street protests are turning violent.

So what's Rio de Janeiro going to do?

Party!

Carnival was scheduled to start on Friday and it couldn't come soon enough for a city reeling from a cocktail of crises that make the glory days of hosting South America's first Olympic Games six months ago feel light-years away.

The annual bash - which attracts an estimated one million tourists - would kick off officially with the handing over of the symbolic city keys to Rei Momo, the carnival king.

The country was shutting down this week. Streets were beginning to empty, most businesses prepared to close until next Thursday, and even the usually raucous chamber of Congress in the capital Brasilia was deserted.

Cariocas, as Rio residents are called, have been partying hard in informal street "blocos" for several weeks, but now the serious fun begins with rival samba parades in the Sambadrome stadium.

The first parades were set to start on Friday, warming up for the elite "special group" samba schools like Mangueira and Beija Flor who compete through Monday night.

Watched by 70,000 people in the Sambadrome, the parades are intense, heart-pounding affairs where as many as 3,000 performers at a time dance and sing in outrageously over-the-top costumes.

The pomp comes against a grim background of recession and crime.

At least 37 cities are reported to have canceled their carnivals for lack of funds or security.

In much of Espiritu Santo state, which borders Rio, carnival has been scratched because of a bloody episode this month when police went on strike and 140 murders were committed in the space of a week.

Rio, home to the country's and arguably the world's most important carnival, has also been on edge.

Violent confrontations have taken place since the start of the year between riot police and protesters against austerity measures meant to rescue the nearly bankrupt state.

In the run-up to the carnival, about 9,000 soldiers and marines were deployed in Rio streets, the camouflaged, rifle-toting men standing out amid the bathers of Copacabana and other popular sites.

"The carnival looks like a party and it is one, but it's much more than that," said writer Gregorio Duvivier, a prominent carnival participant.

"It often serves to help us put aside our problems for a few days. ... I think that it is even greater in time of crisis, because it's even more needed."

Spree in Germany

Meanwhile, revelers in clown costumes and wigs kicked off six days of merriment in Germany on Thursday with Weiberfastnacht or "women's carnival", traditionally the day when women take over town halls and symbolically "castrate" men by cutting off their ties.

Carnival festivities began at precisely 11:11 am in Cologne despite stormy weather and high security after an Islamist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin in December.

In Mainz, police chief Achim Zahn appealed to carnival-goers to use common sense and avoid dressing up as suicide bombers with explosive belts, the German website Strand Journal reported.

Donald Trump-style wigs and masks were in high demand across Germany, where carnival activities traditionally poke fun at politicians.

Susanne Mueller, managing director of Festartikel Mueller, a Bavarian-based company that makes party costumes, said about 30 percent of her company's wig production was dedicated to the US president's blond coiffure this year.

Afp - Reuters