Lawlessness consumes Rio. Police tell visitors you 'will not be safe' here

Late payment of salaries and a lack of basic necessities, including gasoline and toilet paper, have caused police officers and firemen throughout the city to give up on their job and protest.

At the airport, police and firemen held signs of "Welcome to Hell," letting people know that they "will not be safe."

On the foot of the state assembly, 300 police, dressed in black, protested with banners; one reading "The police's priority is the people, the government's priority is the Olympics".

"We are in a meltdown," said a spokesman for the Rio police force.

Hoards of street crime and high profile attacks have taken place since the police have stopped doing their jobs.  The government is attempting a full scale coverup, but the police won't have it.

The city has worked feverishly to hide the slums by building a giant wall blocking one prominent settlement.  All along the freeway leading from the airport to the south,. where much of the country's wealth is concentrated, a "sound barrier" was erected that coincidentally block the view to the ragged tent cities where people live in dirt and scrounge for food.