Rolezinhos: The Flash Mobs Currently Freaking Out Brazilian Authorities

On most Saturdays since early December, a series of unusual youth gatherings have led police to respond to a handful of São Paulo shopping malls. The happenings, dubbed rolezinhos, have a flash-mob quality, except the participants are disadvantaged local youth. Though they're intended to be peaceful, a police crackdown last weekend included tear gas and rubber bullets.

Participants in rolezinhos (Portuguese for "strolls") gather in large numbers in shopping malls to chant lyrics from songs that are part of a music genre called funk da ostentação ("ostentation funk"), which glorifies consumption, brands, and especially cars, motorcycles and scantily clad women. It’s a derivative of funk carioca, a musical style that first emerged in Rio de Janeiro's favelas.