Police in Brazil fire tear gas in clashes

Police in Brazil have fired tear gas in clashes with protesters in the northeastern city of Fortaleza where Spain and Italy played their semifinal football match.

On Thursday, around 5,000 protesters marched near Castelao stadium in the city. At least one protester and one policeman were reportedly injured as protesters hurled rocks and tried to smash through barriers set up near the stadium.

Protesters were carrying placards that read, “Get ready, it is time to change the history of our country.”

“We are not against (world’s football governing body) FIFA or the World Cup, but we are against the huge investments made (for the event). Public health, education, roads are in a sorry state and politicians prefer to invest in football,” said one of the demonstrators.

On Wednesday, Brazilian police clashed with protesters just hundreds of meters away from the Mineiro stadium, in the city of Belo Horizonte, where Brazil’s football team was playing against Uruguay in a semifinal match of a warm-up tournament for the 2014 World Cup.

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 spread across the nation as protesters also voiced their anger over the high cost of the World Cup, poor public service and political corruption.

On several occasions, Brazilian police resorted to tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.

In a bid to end the unrest, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff pledged on June 21 to improve public services and to fight harder against widespread corruption in the country.

However, Brazilians were not swayed by her proposed reforms as new demonstrations have since been staged.

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.