Brazil unrest continues as popular support for demos grows

Brazilians have staged fresh street protests nationwide amid growing popular support for demands for institutional reform and better public services.

On Sunday, rallies were held in several cities, including a 4,000-people march on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach and in the northeastern city of Fortaleza, where the final game of the qualifiers of the FIFA Confederations Cup were played.

People have been taking to the streets during the past two weeks to express their anger at rampant government corruption and the high cost of hosting the 2014 World Cup.

“We like football, after all we are Brazilians. But that doesn’t mean we want to shell out billions. We pay too much tax, the prices of the new stadiums are too high,” said one of the protesters.

Brazil is spending USD 26 billion of public money on the World Cup. Some protesters also blame FIFA and say it has dictated the pace of the investment for the event.

The last two days of rallying indicate that most protesters were not swayed by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s pledges given on June 21 to improve public services and to fight harder against widespread corruption in the country.

A poll on June 22 by Ibope polling agency revealed that three quarter of Brazilians support the protests.

The protests erupted on June 11, when people in Sao Paulo took to the streets to condemn a price hike in public transport.

The unrest spread quickly around the country and by June 22 some 1.5 million people participated in demonstrations.

At several protests, Brazilian police resorted to using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters.

Protest organizers have vowed to continue demonstrations until concrete steps are taken to reform the political system as numerous social media call for a general strike on July 1, stating, “On July 1, 2013, Brazil will grind to a halt.”