Rio's 'Tolerância Zero' beach crackdown faces protests and federal court challenge

The Rio de Janeiro municipal government launched the "Tolerância Zero" program to forbid unlicensed street vending on the city’s beachfronts of Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. Enforcement is carried out with drones equipped with loud‑speakers that broadcast warnings such as “Attention! Area of the Tolerância Zero program – unlicensed economic activities are prohibited.”

Street‑vendor collectives have responded with a series of demonstrations, the fourth of which took place on 19 July in front of the Fasano Hotel in Ipanema. Organisers, led by the Movimento Unido dos Camelôs (Muca) and its coordinator Maria de Lourdes do Carmo, demand a dialogue with the municipality, protection of workers’ rights and a distinction between informal traders and organized crime.

The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) filed a civil action seeking an urgent suspension of the program, arguing that the city acted without the required coordination with the Union, which owns the beaches, and without a joint management plan. The MPF also requests the creation of a collaborative beach‑management plan that balances urban order, crime‑fighting and the rights of informal workers. Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere defended the initiative, calling the MPF’s move a “gross inversion of values.”