Around 2,00,000 people took to the streets of a dozen
Brazilian cities on Monday night in largely peaceful protests against
the government’s economic policies.
Around 1,00,000
people marched in Rio de Janeiro, where some masked demonstrators set
fire to a car and threw stones at the regional parliament building.
The
protests were originally against a hike in public transport prices, but
demonstrators have widened their complaints to include corruption and
the public spending on hosting football tournaments.
Thousands
gathered in the political capital Brasilia in front of the National
Congress building, where several protestors breached security and
climbed onto the roof waving the Brazilian flag.
In
the country’s largest city, Sao Paolo, where the first demonstrations
over bus fares broke out last week, the crowd reached around 50,000 on
Monday, according to police.
Protestors held up banners criticizing the government
for spending billions on the ongoing Confederations Cup and on hosting
next year’s World Cup.
The cities of Porto Alegre and
Salvador also saw thousands of demonstrators, while police in Belo
Horizonte used tear gas against the crowds. There was no indication of
any injuries.
President Dilma Rousseff said the peaceful demonstrations were a legitimate part of the democratic process
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