Hundreds of Rio residents greeted 2016 Olympic torch with a protest

Baku. 4 August. REPORT.AZ/ The Olympic torch has arrived in Rio de Janeiro by boat after a three-month tour of Brazilian cities. But there were chaotic scenes later in the north of the city when the torch relay was challenged by hundreds of demonstrators angry at the high cost of hosting the Games.

The mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, carried the torch on its first few laps through the city centre.

Report informs referring to the BBC, police used tear gas to disperse participants of the protest, held during the meeting of the Olympic torch.

Riot police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

Crowds of people including many families with children who had come out to watch the torch relay run away in fear from the police action.

The police told local media that a group of people refused to leave one lane of the road open for the torch as had been agreed earlier and blocked the street in one place.

They said they had to intervene to contain the chaos and clear the road.