Your trusted source

Violent protests have broken out in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro following the death of a young man allegedly beaten by police, the BBC reported.

Main streets through the tourist area of Copacabana were closed as angry demonstrators from a nearby favela set barricades of tyres alight.

The unrest started after a dancer was killed by police who reportedly mistook him for a drug trafficker.

It comes less than two months before Brazil hosts the football World Cup.

One man was shot dead during the violence on Tuesday night, local media quoted officials as saying. A 12-year-old boy was also reportedly wounded.

Witnesses said cars were set ablaze, a police station was attacked and gunfire could be heard from the Pavao-Pavaozinho favela.

"There was smoke everywhere, shots in the street and people racing for their homes," one resident living nearby told AFP news agency.

The protests were sparked by the death of a 26-year-old local man, named as Douglas Rafael da Silva.

The professional dancer was reportedly found dead inside a school earlier on Tuesday.

According to his family, his body was covered in wounds and they accused local police of beating him to death after mistaking him for a member of a local drugs gang.

The circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation, AFP news agency quoted police as saying.

"An on-site report indicates Douglas's injuries are compatible with a death caused by a fall," the police statement said.

Amnesty International says some 2,000 people die every year in Brazil due to police violence.