Protest leaders called for another huge demonstration in Brazil’s largest city Tuesday, building on historic turnouts spawned by widespread frustration over decades of government red tape, high prices and shoddy services even as the nation’s economic fortunes have risen.
With Sao Paulo girding for another march, the mobilizations have revealed the growing discontent among the country’s booming middle class that public infrastructure and quality of government haven’t kept up with economic gains.
The protests started with a group incensed about a 10-cent hike in subway and bus fares, the Free Fare Movement, which is mostly composed of students. The demonstrations exploded Monday night, however, after images broadcast nationwide showed police attacking the fare protesters during a rally Thursday in Sao Paulo.
The thousands who have since filled Brazilian cities have largely hailed from the middle class, with many holding up signs complaining about grievances such as poor public safety and knotty bureaucracy.
“We’re massacred by the government’s taxes, yet when we leave home in the morning to go to work, we don’t know if we’ll make it home alive because of the violence,” said Maria Claudia Cardoso, accompanied by her 16-year-old son at a march Monday in Sao Paulo.
“We don’t have good schools for our kids. Our hospitals are in awful shape. Corruption is rife. These protests will make history and wake our politicians up to the fact that we’re not taking it anymore!”
President Dilma Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured during Brazil’s 1964-85 dictatorship, appeared to embrace the protests Tuesday, even though her government was a prime target. “Brazil today woke up stronger,” she was quoted as saying by a statement released by her office.
“The massive size of yesterday’s protests prove the energy of our democracy, the force of the voice of the street and the civility of our population,” Rousseff said.
The movement has gathered Brazilians from all walks of life with a central lament: The government provides woeful services despite a large tax burden.
Brazilians have long tolerated pervasive corruption, even as millions have moved out of poverty over the past decade. Many of them have begun to demand more from their government and are angry that billions of dollars in public funds are being spent to host the World Cup and Olympics while few improvements are made on infrastructure elsewhere.
Local news media estimated more than 240,000 people participated in demonstrations Monday night that were mostly peaceful. However, violence was seen in Rio de Janeiro, where 20 officers and 10 demonstrators were injured in clashes, and in the cities of Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte.
The vast majority of Rio’s protesters were peaceful, but a splinter group attacked the state legislature building, setting a car and other objects ablaze. Protests also were reported in the cities of Curitiba, Vitoria, Fortaleza, Recife, Belem and Salvador.
Monday’s protests came not only during the Confederations Cup but just one month before a papal visit, a year before the World Cup and three years ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The unrest is raising security concerns and renewed questions over Brazil’s readiness to host the mega-events.
In Rio, the confrontation between police and a small group of protesters dragged on late into the night. As the group moved on to the state legislature building, TV footage showed police firing into the air. At least one demonstrator in Rio was injured after being hit in the leg with a live round allegedly fired by law enforcement.
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