All images © Kevin Moloney


A young mother naps on a busy sidewalk with two sons in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Rio police sweep the streets of homeless people several times a week in what some proclaim a misguided attempt to solve the problem.



Officers of Rio’s Guardia Municipal drag an unwilling homeless man away from the subway station where he was sleeping. Though they are asked to voluntarily come to the shelter, those who refuse are forced.



Caught in the act while officers were looking for homeless people, a car thief is detained near the object of his quest. He was trying to break in through a vent window.



A Guardia officer checks the ID of a suspicious passer-by in front of the operation’s bus. He was allowed to go on his way after an extensive look through his papers.



Put on a bus after being picked up in the sweep, Marcelo Luis, 19, and wife Maria Fátima de Paula, 35, share cigarettes and kisses as they sit among five children they cared for on the street. The couple felt they lived better on the street than they would trying to pay for a house. They were excited about going to the shelter, however.


All images © Kevin Moloney

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