Over the last few days, I’ve been hearing reports of increasingly violent protests ion Brazil. Can anyone explain what these are about? Is it something specific, or is it kind of a generic bitchfest, like the Occupy movement turned into?
I heard something in the news about increased public transportation costs, and that one Brazilian city (no cite) had lowered the price as a result. Of course that may lead to even more demands…
bob_2
June 21, 2013, 5:20pm
3
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/21/us-brazil-protests-idUSBRE95K0JU20130621
The protests blossomed over the past week, catching Rousseff and other politicians off guard as Brazilians vented anger over issues from corruption and poor public transport to billions of dollars being spent to host the soccer World Cup next year.
The marches have contributed to a selloff in Brazilian financial markets and deeply embarrassed the country as it hosts the Confederations Cup, a warm-up tournament for the World Cup taking place in several cities hit by the protests. TV images have shown terrified fans and tourists running past clashes between police and demonstrators to get to stadiums.
World soccer body FIFA said on Friday it condemned the violence, but had not considered cancelling the tournament.
Most of the demonstrators have been peaceful. But social media buzzed on Friday with condemnations of violence after widespread scenes of masked youths looting stores, setting fires and defacing buildings including the foreign ministry in Brasilia, which had its windows smashed.
The Free Fare Movement in Sao Paulo, an activist group that was instrumental in the rise of the protests, said it would stop organizing new demonstrations for now after street fights broke out among some protesters with different objectives and political views on Thursday.