World Cup Protests; Violent Clashes in Brazil

World Cup Protests: Violent Clashes In Brazil


6:25am UK, Tuesday 18 June 2013
Tens of thousands voice their anger over high taxes and the huge cost of the World Cup in the biggest demonstrations in 20 years.




Video: Demonstrators march during one of the many protests across Brazil

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More than 100,000 people have marched through cities across Brazil to protest over rising public transport prices and the cost of staging the 2014 football World Cup.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Sao Paolo, while youths clashed with police in central Rio.
Police used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse small groups of masked youths who started a fire near Rio's state legislative assembly attempting to break into the building.
In Porto Alegre, some protesters set a bus on fire and threw rocks at empty commuter trains.
Students protest outside the National Congress building in Brasilia
Elsewhere, there were peaceful protests through the capital Brasilia, on Monday, where more than 200 youths briefly occupied the roof of the National Congress and some 5,000 later formed a human chain around the building.
Protests also were reported in Curitiba, Belem, Salvador and Belo Horizonte.
"This is a communal cry saying, 'We're not satisfied,'" said Maria Claudia Cardoso, in Sao Paolo.
A fire near Rio's state legislative assembly
"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.
"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."
Sandra Amalfe added: "We need better education, hospitals and security - not billions spent on the World Cup."
A protester against Brazil's hosting of the World Cup
The protests follow the opening games of the Confederations Cup over the weekend, 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.
In a brief statement, President Dilma Rousseff, who faces re-election next year and whose popularity rating recently dipped for the first time in her presidency, acknowledged the protests, saying: "Peaceful demonstrations are legitimate and part of democracy. It is natural for young people to demonstrate."
The unrest, which began last week after the announcement of increased bus fares, has rapidly spread to other cities with demonstrators focusing their anger not just on the transport fares but also on the £9.5bn the government is allocating for the Confederations Cup and the World Cup.

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What will they do when they realise the cost of the Olympics?????