Military police and officials in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo have reached an agreement to suspend a weeklong strike that led to sharp rise in violence.
The announcement was made at a news conference in the Fonte Grande gubernatorial palace in Vitoria, in Espirito Santo, a coastal state north of Rio de Janeiro.
The agreement states the government will look for ways to promote all those who are eligible and will address concerns about workload, but that military police will not receive salary hikes.
Officers’ wives, who initiated the seven-day strike outside police stations and blocked patrol cars, did not participate in the negotiations.
State Secretary for Human Rights Julio César Pompeu asked that the police “talk to their wives” and return to work.
“Those who took the oath of honor to defend our society were them — the military police. Not their wives,” said the secretary.
The state government said the officers must report to work by 7 a.m. (4 a.m. ET) Saturday and said they would not suffer any sanctions if they do.
At least 110 people have been killed since the walkout began last Saturday, civil police homicide investigator Walter Santana Lopes told CNN. The lack of policing has also led to an increase in robberies and looting.
