Brazil president calls emergency cabinet meeting
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff called an emergency cabinet meeting on Friday after at least a million people rallied for better public services and against the high cost of staging the World Cup.
Sources quoted by the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo said authorities were "frightened" by protesters' attempt to break into the foreign ministry building in Brasilia. The presidential office would not comment on the reports.
The mounting pressure on Rousseff's government in the face of the biggest street protests the South American country has seen in 20 years prompted her to also cancel a trip to Japan planned for next week.
Late on Thursday, security forces struggled to maintain order in several cities, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse groups of rowdy protesters who hurled stones and lit fires.
Police fired tear gas in Rio de Janeiro, scene of the biggest protest where 300,000 people demonstrated near City Hall, while in the capital Brasilia, security forces blocked protesters trying to break into the foreign ministry and throwing burning objects.
Police and experts quoted by Brazilian media said at least 1 million marched in more than 100 cities across the country of 194 million people, an intensification of a movement sparked two weeks ago by public anger about a hike in public transport fares.
The protests have spiraled into a wider call for an end to government corruption in the world's seventh largest economy, a call fueled by resentment over the $15 billion cost of hosting the Confederations Cup and the World Cup.
In Rio, police fired tear gas to disperse a small group of stone-throwing protesters. At least one person was hurt in the clashes, which sparked panic in the crowd.
Demonstrators also set ablaze a vehicle owned by the SBT television station.
A protester died after a motorist hit him and two other demonstrators in the southeastern city of Ribeirao Preto, police said.
In the northeastern city of Salvador, one of the host cities for the Confederations Cup, police fired tear gas against some of the 20,000 protesters massed 2km from the stadium where Uruguay defeated Nigeria 2-1.
Vehicles used by world football's governing body FIFA were stoned in the Bahia state capital and riot police had to intervene.
On Wednesday, protesters had scored a major victory when authorities in Rio and Sao Paulo, Brazil's two biggest cities, canceled the controversial transit fare hikes, but that was not enough to placate the demonstrators.
In Sao Paulo, an estimated 110,000 people flooded the main Paulista Avenue to celebrate the fare rollback and keep the pressure on Rousseff's leftist government to increase social spending.
The protest was largely peaceful except for clashes between a group of ultra-leftists marching behind their red banners and a majority of demonstrators who objected to the presence of political parties.
As the protests heated up in the evening, Rousseff's office announced that she would not travel to Japan on June 26-28 as planned for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Social media networks have been key to the organization of the mass protests, with demonstrators using the slogan "It's more than just 20 cents" – a reference to the bus fare hikes – to rally people to their cause.
The movement has no political coloration and no clearly identified leadership.
Those opposing the hosting of the World Cup are planning a mammoth march to Rio's iconic Maracana stadium on June 30, the day of the Confederations Cup final. AFP
Đăng ký: VietNam News
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