South Korea's Consulate General in Sao Paulo, Brazil is preparing safety measures for Korean residents there amid riots at local prisons and widespread gang attacks on the police.

The consulate issued a statement urging ethnic Koreans to avoid using public transportation and stay away from public places such as banks, transport terminals and movie theaters.

A consulate official said Koreans have not suffered any losses but that precautions are essential.

The consulate has asked Brazilian authorities for bolstered patrols around Sao Paulo's Koreatown neighborhood and is establishing an emergency contact network among Korean communities in the area.

A school attended by many ethnic Koreans immediately shut down Monday after a group of armed men opened fire at a police vehicle near the school.

A local gang known as the First Command of the Capital or PCC has orchestrated more than 40 prison uprisings and some one hundred-50 attacks on police and civilian targets since Friday. Some 90 people have been killed.

The PCC leader ordered the uprisings to protest his transfer and that of five lieutenants to a super-maximum security prison.

Some 50-thousand Koreans reside in Sao Paulo, the wealthiest and most populous state in the Latin American nation.