Posted by : Anonymous
Thursday, 20 June 2013
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| Demonstrators hold a protest in Rio de Janeiro, one of many such
protests in Brazil's major cities, June 20, 2013.(Reuters / Luciana
Whitaker) |
An 18-year-old protester has been killed and dozens injured as
massive protests continue in Brazil's cities. Over a million people have
flooded the streets of the country on Thursday. One person has been killed and three more injured after they were
hit by a car in the town of Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo state.
Witnesses say that the car tried to break a human chain created
by protesters. Apparantly outraged because he was being blocked,
the driver accelerated the vehicle and ran over the four. Three people were taken to hospital with fractures, one of them
in serious condition. Delefrate Marcos, 18, died at the scene. Mass protests continue throughout Brazil this week as hundreds of
thousands assemble in the main cities of Sao Paulo, Brasilia and
Rio de Janeiro with no sign of subsiding even as governments
reverse course on planned public transit fare hikes.
Throngs of demonstrators clogged the main streets of major
cities, and assembled in smaller municipalities across the
country, matching or even exceeding the numbers seen earlier in
the week, when hundreds of thousands came out nationwide. In Rio, authorities expected as many as a million protesters,
despite recent announcements by state governments that they would
scrap plans to increase public transportation costs.The planned fare hikes, which had been the initial catalyst of
the protests that have now rocked Brazil since Monday, seem to
have become a sidenote as protesters now carry placards demanding
the government address chronic corruption and other issues.
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| Police prepare for demonstrations in Brasilia Thursday evening (Photo courtesty of Mariana de Assis) |
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| Demonstrators in Brasilia, the capital city, Thursday evening (Photo courtesty of Mariana de Assis) |
On Wednesday, some 30,000 demonstrators clashed with riot police
in the northern city of Fortaleza hours before Brazil was set to
face off against Mexico in a Confederations Cup match. Online, a
video asking for international visitors to boycott Brazil’s World
Cup went viral, and even Brazilian football legend Pele managed
to find himself amidst controversy after seemingly flippant
comments directed at the mass protests.“Let's forget all this commotion happening in Brazil, all
these protests, and let's remember how the Brazilian squad is our
country and our blood," Pele was quoted as saying by TV
network O Globo, which has been the subject of criticism over its
coverage of the protest movement. Brazilians were quick to mock Pele’s comments, which mirrored
those made a day prior by a FIFA official in response to a
near-riot in Fortaleza which sought to distance the sport from
the public unrest.
Anger about a hike in public transport fares has spiralled into a
wider movement demanding an end to government corruption -- one
fueled by resentment over the $15 billion cost of staging the
Confederations Cup and next year's World Cup.
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| Demonstrators hold flag during a protest of what is now called the
'Tropical Spring' against corruption and price hikes in Sao Paulo,
Brazil, on June 20, 2013.(AFP Photo / Miguel Schincariol) |
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| Demonstrators hold a banner demanding an improvement for education and
health in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 20, 2013.(AFP Photo / Miguel
Schincariol) |
On Thursday, President Dilma Rousseff's office announced that she
would cancel a trip to Japan on June 26-28 in response to the
unrest. Both the federal and municipal governments of the country
seemed to be struggling to respond to the nationwide protests,
which are both unusual for the country and seemingly apolitical
in nature. A poll of protesters conducted by Folha de São Paulo found that
71 per cent of Brazilians were taking part in a demonstration for
the first time, and 77 per cent had gone through higher
education, the latter figure reflecting the burgeoning middle
class in South America’s biggest economic power and the world’s
seventh-largest.
Among the demands made by the demonstrations are higher funding
for education and health services, as well as cuts to public
officials' salaries.
Brazilians have even lashed out at the country’s media, such as
Globo TV, which some say is either belittling or playing down the
numbers of people showing up on the streets.
"Globo always manipulates facts and tries to put the
demonstrators in a bad light, focusing on the vandalism of a few
hooligans," said Leitane Luranque to the AFP, one of
thousands demonstrators at Monday's rally in Sao Paulo.
"And they consistently underestimate the number of
demonstrators," added Luranque.
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| Demonstrators march during a demonstration in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 20, 2013.(AFP Photo / Miguel Schincariol) |
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| Demonstrators march in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 20, 2013.(AFP Photo / Miguel Schincariol) |
