"The climate of terror can't be turned into carte blanche to kill," said Ariel de Castro Alves, co-ordinator of Brazil's National Human Rights Movement.

In an interview with Brazil's Globo TV, the commander of Sao Paulo's state police said officers are now convinced they have stopped the gang attacks because most of the latest overnight shootings happened outside of metropolitan Sao Paulo and none were the work of the First Capital Command gang.