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Teenage Gang-Rape Videos Shock Brazil

Teenage Gang-Rape Videos Shock Brazil

Videos posted on social media of a teenage girl being gang-raped in Rio de Janeiro have caused revulsion in Brazil.

The grainy clips began circulating on Tuesday, including one showing the 16-year-old on the floor appearing to regain consciousness after the attack.

The girl was reportedly assaulted on Saturday while visiting her boyfriend in a shantytown on the west side of the city.

It is reported that police are hunting 30 men in connection with the attack and have issued arrest warrants for four suspects, including the girl's 19-year-old boyfriend who is wanted for rape, and two others for distributing the video.

Although most Twitter users who saw the videos reacted with revulsion, hundreds responded to the clips with 'likes' and 'smilies' before the footage was taken down and the accounts suspended.

The girl's grandmother told Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that she cried after watching one of the clips.

"I regretted watching it. When we heard the story we didn't believe what was happening. It's a great affliction. It's a depressing situation," she said.

Rio's public prosecutor's office said it had received 800 reports about the videos and had asked the public only to call if they have information that could help capture the suspects.

In another case, a group of at least five men are reported to have drugged and raped a 17-year-old girl in the northeastern state of Piaui.

"Apart from the fact that these are young women, these barbaric cases are similar in that the teenagers were lured by their attackers in premeditated plots," said the spokeswoman for UN Women in Brazil, Nadine Gasman.

"They were violently attacked in a context of illegal drug use," she added.

During the city's bid to host the 2016 Olympics, Rio's mayor assured the International Olympic Committee its violent crime rate would be reduced by the time tourists and athletes arrived.