Newsroom    Agência Brasil

Rio de Janeiro – The most famous event in the city’s carnival celebrations is, of course, the huge “parade” (“desfile”) of the main so-called samba “schools” (“escolas”) that have as many as 5,000 participants.

But hundreds of much smaller schools, known as “blocos,” pop up all over the city and parade around neighborhoods. They are what gives Rio carnival its special flavor.

This year no less than 476 blocos requested permission to parade. Only 425 got authorization. 

According to the city’s tourism office (“Riotur”), authorization depends on a bloco’s history (“traditions” (“antiguidade”) that is, whether or not it has a history), parade routes and what they call “logistics,” that is to say, how much the parade will disrupt things like traffic.

According to the head of Riotur, Antònio Pedro Figueira de Mello, for this year’s carnival celebrations the city will set up 15,000 portable bathrooms, 80 mobile intensive care units, mobilize a thousand people (traffic facilitators) who will work with the police to keep the city from coming to a standstill and distribute 500,000 explanatory pamphlets.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Rio terá 425 blocos no desfile de carnaval de rua