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Riotous Prisoners Take 27 Hostages in Brazil
About 70 riotous prisoners seized 27 Brazilian security agents hostage early Saturday in a prison at Ipaba city in Minas Gerais state, a local radio station reported.
The riot began at dawn Saturday in one of the pavilions of " Denio Moreira de Carvalho" penitentiary when prisoners overpowered the guards, radio CBN said.
These prisoners are demanding removal of the prison's directors and suspension of removing 14 inmates to another jail in Belo Horizonte, capital of Mina Gerais state.
Local justice authorities were negotiating with the rioters, while about 150 military policemen have besieged the prison.
Agent Washington Oliveira Dimas, who managed to escape his captors by jumping out of the pavilion from a rooftop, said that other hostages were being kept tied up and denied food or water.
Brazil has recorded a series of massive prison riots in recent months, which reflected the problems of overcrowding and violence in Brazil's penitentiary system, the report said.
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