Thousands of Brazilians killed by cops

SAO PAULO, May 26 (UPI) -- Thousands of Brazilians were killed in confrontations with police last year, Amnesty International reported Wednesday.

In its annual report, the human rights watchdog group said that the majority of those killed were predominantly young, poor, and black or mixed-race males who died in confrontations with police described officially as "resistance followed by death."

Few of the deaths are investigated, according to Amnesty, with the majority of the clashes between police and civilians taking place in urban areas like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

The findings fly in the face of professed efforts by Brazil to improve its human rights record in terms of law enforcement.