Praia do Leme

This guide to Praia do Leme in Rio de Janeiro reconstructs one Sunday afternoon, September 24, 2023, when a wave of young men swept down the packed beach snatching bags and phones, scattering beachgoers into oncoming traffic before police from the nineteenth battalion moved in. It follows one victim, twenty-eight-year-old Ana Clara Souza, who watched her bank balance drain as her stolen card was tapped at kiosks along the strip. Stand at the Mureta do Leme, the stone wall below Leme's rock where fishermen have cast lines for generations, in the shadow of the colonial-era fort above.