Crisis talks over Brazil 'mass rape'

Brazil's interim President Michel Temer has called an emergency meeting of state security ministers over the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro, which has triggered widespread condemnation.

The girl, 16, believes she was dugged after going to her boyfriend's house on May 21 and said she woke up in a different house, surrounded by the men, BBC reported.

The shocking 40-second-video of the attack was put up on the social media and was widely shared, followed by a wave of misogynistic comments, before the users' accounts were suspended.

Police are hunting more than 30 male suspects. Arrest warrants have been issued, including one for the boyfriend.

Temer vowed to form a federal police unit to deal with violence against women.

"I condemn most forcefully the rape of the teenager in Rio de Janeiro," Temer said.

"It is absurd that in the 21st Century we should have to live with barbaric crimes such as this."

However, conflicting versions of the story are still coming in, but the rape is said to have taken place in a poor community in western Rio.

According to a statement she is reported to have given to police, the girl woke up on May 22, naked and wounded, and made her way home.

Only days later, she found out that some of the alleged rapists had put images of the attack on Twitter.

In a message posted on Facebook, the victim said she was thankful for the support she had received and added "I really thought I was going to be badly judged."

"All of us can go through this one day. It does not hurt the uterus but the soul because there are cruel people not being punished!! Thanks for the support."

Campaign groups have been calling for protests over the coming days.

There has also been an outpouring of anger on social media, under the hashtag #EstuproNuncaMais (rape never again).

In Brazil, 47,636 rapes were reported to police in 2014, official figures showed.

--IANS

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