Brazil Carnival 2022: Thousands Took to Streets of Rio De Janeiro Defying Ban on Festive Celebrations

Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro were not stopped by a ban in the city to celebrate this year's carnival in the streets, as thousands of revelers reportedly flocked the city and engage in a party.

According to Associated Press, thousands of people defied an official ban on street parties on Saturday, as the revelers danced, sang, and mingle to the rhythm of samba even though Brazilian law enforcers sometimes look at them.

It can be recalled that Brazil will not celebrate the public holiday on the streets on its exact date, as the celebration of the holiday was postponed to April, Reuters reported. Because the celebration of the carnival was postponed, the outlet added that the street parties known as "blocos" were also scrapped this month.

However, the ban did not stop Brazilians from celebrating the carnival. Aside from partying on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, other Brazilians attended more formal events held indoors.

"I think it's a shame this [carnival] has to happen this way... it doesn't make sense to crowd everyone into a closed place when the street, an open space, much more airy, is prohibited," music director, Tulio Brazil said. The said music director found one of the unauthorized street parties in Rio de Janeiro's city center.

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Brazilian, Frustrated Over Ban of Carnival

Several Brazilians expressed their frustration after the city hall banned the street parties in connection to this year's carnival.

Party organizer, Grégoire Puttemen, called the city's decision to cancel the blocos "hypocritical," contending that Rio de Janeiro is back to "normal" following the COVID-19 outbreaks.

Puttemen added that he had to comply and only gather at least 1,500 people on his party, a much lower number of attendees compared to the 3,000 revelers he can invite in the previous years.

"Everything is already happening in the city, there are parties every weekend, there are parties in the streets, so prohibiting them during carnival doesn't make any sense," Puttemen noted, per Reuters.

Rita Fernandes, a leader of an association who lead blocos from the city's most touristic areas, said that their city hall's decision to ban the street parties seemed contradictory, contending that stadiums, churches, concerts, bars, and restaurants were full despite the presence of COVID-19.

"Carnival here in Rio is a party for black people, it's a party for 'favelados'... Carnival has roots, Carnival has a history, an essence which we cannot forget," Fernandes said, per Associated Press.

Tourists Arrive in Brazil Despite Postponement of Carnival

Foreign tourists still arrived in Brazil despite the lack of official events amid the carnival celebration this year.

According to the president of HotéisRIO, Alfredo Lopes, foreign languages were heard across the beaches in Rio de Janeiro. Lopes added that 80 percent of hotel rooms in the city were also 80 percent occupied.

Lopes added in his statement that he expects that the number of occupied rooms in the city's hotels will rise to 85 percent in the coming days.

Foreigners and Brazilian revelers were not the only entities present in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate this year's carnival.

Associated Press said that on Sunday, dozens of dogs along with their owners engaged in "blocao," a wordplay from the word "bloco" and Portuguese word "cao," which means dog.

The dogs reportedly participated in the traditional costume contest held in a private club in the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood.

"Every year we have a costume party contest and people are waiting for this day. So we thought, 'Let's have the [party] anyway," organizer Marco Antonio Veira said.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

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