Brazil under siege - 200,000 protesting, congress invaded

[SkinnyPupp]

Looks like Brazil is the next to step up to their government

When the protests started:



After they tried to break up the protest:



Biggest protests in 20 years sweep Brazil | Reuters

As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption.

The marches, organized mostly through snowballing social media campaigns, blocked streets and halted traffic in more than a half-dozen cities, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia, where demonstrators climbed onto the roof of Brazil's Congress building and then stormed it.

Monday's demonstrations were the latest in a flurry of protests in the past two weeks that have added to growing unease over Brazil's sluggish economy, high inflation and a spurt in violent crime.

While most of the protests unfolded as a festive display of dissent, some demonstrators in Rio threw rocks at police, set fire to a parked car and vandalized the state assembly building. Vandals also destroyed property in the southern city of Porto Alegre.

Around the country, protesters waved Brazilian flags, dancing and chanting slogans such as "The people have awakened" and "Pardon the inconvenience, Brazil is changing."

The epicenter of Monday's march shifted from Sao Paulo, where some 65,000 people took to the streets late in the afternoon, to Rio. There, as protesters gathered throughout the evening, crowds ballooned to 100,000 people, local police said. At least 20,000 more gathered in Belo Horizonte.

The demonstrations are the first time that Brazilians, since a recent decade of steady economic growth, are collectively questioning the status quo.

BIG EVENTS LOOM

The protests have gathered pace as Brazil is hosting the Confederation's Cup, a dry run for next year's World Cup soccer championship. The government hopes these events, along with the 2016 Summer Olympics, will showcase Brazil as an emerging power on the global stage.

Brazil also is gearing up to welcome more than 2 million visitors in July as Pope Francis makes his first foreign trip for a gathering of Catholic youth in Rio.

Contrasting the billions in taxpayer money spent on new stadiums with the shoddy state of Brazil's public services, protesters are using the Confederation's Cup as a counterpoint to amplify their concerns. The tournament got off to shaky start this weekend when police clashed with demonstrators outside stadiums at the opening matches in Brasilia and Rio.

"For many years the government has been feeding corruption. People are demonstrating against the system," said Graciela Caçador, a 28-year-old saleswoman protesting in Sao Paulo. "They spent billions of dollars building stadiums and nothing on education and health."

More protests are being organized for the coming days. It is unclear what specific response from authorities - such as a reduction in the hike of transport fares - would lead the loose collection of organizers across Brazil to consider stopping them.

For President Dilma Rousseff, the demonstrations come at a delicate time, as price increases and lackluster growth begin to loom over an expected run for re-election next year.

Polls show Rousseff still is widely popular, especially among poor and working-class voters, but her approval ratings began to slip in recent weeks for the first time since taking office in 2011. Rousseff was booed at Saturday's Confederations Cup opener as protesters gathered outside.

Through a spokeswoman, Rousseff called the protests "legitimate" and said peaceful demonstrations are "part of democracy." The president, a leftist guerrilla as a young woman, also said that it was "befitting of youth to protest."

WIDE ARRAY OF GRIEVANCES

Some were baffled by the protests in a country where unemployment remains near record lows, even after more than two years of tepid economic growth.

"What are they going to do - march every day?" asked Cristina, a 43-year-old cashier, who declined to give her surname, peeking out at the demonstration from behind the curtain of a closed Sao Paulo butcher shop. She said corruption and other age-old ills in Brazil are unlikely to change soon.

The marches began this month with an isolated protest in Sao Paulo against a small increase in bus and subway fares. The demonstrations initially drew the scorn of many middle-class Brazilians after protesters vandalized storefronts, subway stations and buses on one of the city's main avenues.

The movement quickly gained support and spread to other cities as police used heavy-handed tactics to quell the demonstrations. The biggest crackdown happened on Thursday in Sao Paulo when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas in clashes that injured more than 100 people, including 15 journalists, some of whom said they were deliberately targeted.

Other common grievances at Monday's marches included corruption and the inadequate and overcrowded public transportation networks that Brazilians cope with daily.

POLICE SHOW RESTRAINT

The harsh police reaction to last week's protests touched a nerve in Brazil, which endured two decades of political repression under a military dictatorship that ended in 1985. It also added to doubts about whether Brazil's police forces would be ready for next year's World Cup.

The uproar following last week's crackdown prompted Sao Paulo state Governor Geraldo Alckmin, who first described the protesters as "troublemakers" and "vandals," to order police to allow Monday's march to proceed and not to use rubber bullets.

The protests are shaping up as a major political challenge for Alckmin, a former presidential candidate, and Sao Paulo's new mayor, Fernando Haddad, a rising star in the left-leaning Workers' Party that has governed Brazil for the past decade. Haddad invited protest leaders to meet Tuesday morning, but has so far balked at talk of a bus fare reduction.

The resonance of the demonstrations underscores what economists say will be a challenge for Rousseff and other Brazilian leaders in the years ahead: providing public services to meet the demands of the growing middle class.

"Voters are likely to be increasingly disgruntled on a range of public services in a lower growth environment," Christopher Garman, a political analyst at the Eurasia Group, wrote in a report.

[SkinnyPupp]

Reporter tells how the Police brutality marked the latest protest - YouTube

[SkinnyPupp]

Even the police are joining the protest in at least one state

[SupraTTturbo2jz]

Too bad that shit can never happen here or in usa. We would be shot dead.
Posted via RS Mobile

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by SupraTTturbo2jz

Too bad that shit can never happen here or in usa. We would be shot dead.
Posted via RS Mobile

What dimension are you living in because it's clearly not the same one everyone else is on.

[StylinRed]

Yeah they've been protesting for awhile now over the Olympic and World Cup expenditures while the poor are being forced out of their ghettos and service prices keep rising; bus fares seemingly being a major tipping point. The protests are being supported by the president though she just warns about them becoming violent.

One of the main groups behind the protest is calling for free public transportation at least for the poor as minimum wage is around $325usd a month and a bus ticket is $1.50ish

[SkinnyPupp]

$1.50 crazy considering buses are about $2 in Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities in the world

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by SupraTTturbo2jz

Too bad that shit can never happen here or in usa. We would be shot dead.
Posted via RS Mobile

There's a breaking point for everyone. If government and parliament spending and all these MP's taking all this cash outside of their already inflated wages people will eventually revolt unless there's some sort of restructuring
Posted via RS Mobile

[iwantaskyline]

Pretty retarded to host the world cup and olympics two years apart.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

One of the main groups behind the protest is calling for free public transportation at least for the poor as minimum wage is around $325usd a month and a bus ticket is $1.50ish

holy shat - that is crazy

[Gridlock]

Obviously this goes far beyond Olympics/World Cup expenditures, and cuts into social fabric territory of wage equality and such.

I personally feel like the days of the Olympics are over. At the very least, numbered. Sochi in Russia right now is on track for spending $50 billion dollars to host the Olympics. On track to outspend China.

Beyond that, security is going to cost a budgeted $6 billion and will probably go up. In comparison, Vancouver was $1 billion and people were up in arms.

The decisions that the Olympics committee makes need to be predicated on the first question being, "can this country afford for their leaders to spend insane money to build out infrastructure that will never get used again?"

Brazil can't.
Pretty sure Russia can't.

Sorry, not totally related to the protests, but is somewhat.

[dinosaur]

I am always blown away how citizens 200,000+ strong can unit against the government. Some times I actually find it inspiring especially when we have similar issues in our country.

However, I find it amusing how most are supportive of these types of protests when they happen in other countries....but, when these movements\protests\marches happen here for similar reasons, they are told to fuck-off and get a job. Anyone remember idle no more...

[gdoh]

#ChangeBrazil - YouTube

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by dinosaur

I am always blown away how citizens 200,000+ strong can unit against the government. Some times I actually find it inspiring especially when we have similar issues in our country.

However, I find it amusing how most are supportive of these types of protests when they happen in other countries....but, when these movements\protests\marches happen here for similar reasons, they are told to fuck-off and get a job. Anyone remember idle no more...

I think its the matter of scale.

Bad in Canada is pretty damned good in Brazil.

And Idle No More fizzled into Idle Again.

You really need to be willing to take your protest violent to have anything happen, and really...in Canada? Not going to happen. The only thing we'll violently protest is the cheapest tuition in Canada got more expensive(but still the cheapest in Canada) or your hockey team lost a game.

[T4RAWR]

Originally Posted by SupraTTturbo2jz

Too bad that shit can never happen here or in usa. We would be shot dead.
Posted via RS Mobile

pretty sure if this shit happened in Canada or the US we'd be shooting back


although, i'm pretty sure with the number of illegal firearms in brazil it could be the same scenario there

[Ronin]

Wow, shit's getting real. It was just 10,000 the last time I read.

Originally Posted by dinosaur

I am always blown away how citizens 200,000+ strong can unit against the government. Some times I actually find it inspiring especially when we have similar issues in our country.

However, I find it amusing how most are supportive of these types of protests when they happen in other countries....but, when these movements\protests\marches happen here for similar reasons, they are told to fuck-off and get a job. Anyone remember idle no more...

Because the issues here aren't nearly as bad and don't affect as high of a percentage of the population.

The face of Idle No More was a lady that made $100k+ and eat during her "hunger strike". It's hard to lend legitimacy to a movement who's leaders are taking advantage of their own people on top of being supremely disorganized.

I don't get why you people think we have to support EVERY cause, either. I don't have enough time in my day to support everything nor do I have the money in my wallet to give to every charity. I pick and choose. It's supply and demand. There are things Canadians care about. Things like Idle No More and Occupy Vancouver just aren't one of them.

[Ronin]

And people will support anything they don't have to pay for or put time into.

Oh, LIKE THIS PAGE if you support Brazil!

[CharlesInCharge]

Cops RUN from the people in Brazil, WITH VIDEO + live video link
Cops RUN from the people in Brazil, WITH VIDEO


http://www.godlikeproductions.com/fo...age2266847/pg9

[iEatClams]

Originally Posted by Ronin

Wow, shit's getting real. It was just 10,000 the last time I read.



Because the issues here aren't nearly as bad and don't affect as high of a percentage of the population.

The face of Idle No More was a lady that made $100k+ and eat during her "hunger strike". It's hard to lend legitimacy to a movement who's leaders are taking advantage of their own people on top of being supremely disorganized.

I don't get why you people think we have to support EVERY cause, either. I don't have enough time in my day to support everything nor do I have the money in my wallet to give to every charity. I pick and choose. It's supply and demand. There are things Canadians care about. Things like Idle No More and Occupy Vancouver just aren't one of them.

It will be interesting what happens 15-20 years from now in western countries. In Canada and the US, the wealth gap is rapidly increasing, rich people are getting richer quicker and doubling their wealth quicker.

The issue is with the poor people, the income gap is increasing which means more and people will be poorer and if this gets worst, I can see a lot more protests going on.

Right now, I am employed in a stable, good income earning job, as is most of my friends. But say if most of my friends and family are unemployed and we can't find jobs and we see these rich people getting richer and nature takes place, we will become pissed and start protesting. If the majority are unemployed or making a shiet salary, we have nothing to lose, and will ban together to protest. When a few are unemployed, it's usually the individual, when many are unemployed, it's the system failing the people. And if protests dont work, we may have to resort to other means to get our attention across.

I can see this starting to happen and it will only get worst.

[tiger_handheld]

weird cnn was not reporting this..

[Ronin]

Too busy trying to guess what Kim Kardashian is going to name her baby and how far Kanye is going to run to get away from this shit.

Kanye. Dude, seirously, you wrote a song called Gold Digger talking specifically about this situation.

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld

weird cnn was not reporting this..

they give a 1-2min blip here and there like i noted in the syria thread unless its an enemy of america its just normal everyday protesting otherwise its 24/7 coverage and the US will warn them about stopping the protests and the suddenly evil regime must fall!

[StylinRed]

Over 100 cities protesting and over 1 million people according to bbc right now (tv) and the tear gas and rubber bullets are out, at least 1 dead

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22992410

The protests continue to grow larger and angrier


More than a million people are reported to have taken part in protests in about 100 cities across Brazil, the latest in a wave of demonstrations.

Violence erupted in many places and an 18-year-old man died when a car drove through a barricade in Sao Paulo state.

Protests began more than a week ago over high transport fares but are also highlighting corruption and the cost of next year's football World Cup.

President Dilma Rousseff called off a trip to Japan to deal with the crisis.

She has called an emergency meeting of her cabinet for Friday to discuss the unrest.

The newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, citing official figures, said that more than one million people had taken part in Thursday's demonstrations.

Brazilian media said there were protests in more than 100 cities.

In Rio de Janeiro riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at groups of masked young men trying to approach the City Hall late on Thursday. At least 29 people were reported injured.

Rio authorities sealed off the state legislature building, the state governor's office, Guanabara Palace and the mayor's office.

TV images showed gangs looting shops in the city centre - although many Rio shopkeepers and banks had put up wooden hoardings to protect their premises.

In the capital, Brasilia, demonstrators started a small fire at the entrance to the foreign ministry and were driven back by police using rubber bullets and tear gas.

Other government buildings in the city were attacked and riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to scatter the crowds. About 26 people were reported injured.

There were also clashes outside a football stadium in Salvador ahead of a Confederations Cup match between Nigeria and Uruguay.

More clashes were reported in Porto Alegre in the south, Campinas north of Sao Paulo and in the north-eastern city of Salvador.


(sao paulo is brazils wealthiest city btw and the 10th richest in the world -stylinred)

The 18-year-old man killed in the city of Ribeirao Preto was the first person reported to have died in the protests. The motorist who drove through the barricade is said to have fled the scene.

In Sao Paulo, police said 100,000 people had gathered on the city's landmark Avenida Paulista.

Members of the city's Free Access Movement (Movimento Passe Livre) - which has been campaigning for better public transport - earlier pledged to take to the streets "to celebrate" the reversal of a public-transport fare increase.

The protests, originally triggered by the increase on 2 June, have since grown into a much wider movement.

Protesters are angry at corruption and poor public services as well as the huge cost of next year's football World Cup, saying the government should also invest in education and healthcare.

Previous Confederations Cup matches have drawn protests, with demonstrators expressing their anger at steep ticket prices and the money spent on the Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad said Wednesday's reversal of the fare rise was a "big sacrifice", which meant other investments would have to be cut.

Sao Paulo and Rio are the latest two cities to reverse such increases after similar moves by the authorities in Cuiaba, Recife and Joao Pessoa.

The fare rollback, while welcomed by many, has so far failed to quell the protests.


Brazil's UK ambassador says despite the protests, Brazilians have a positive view of the future
"This means that our politicians have begun to hear our voices. This is something that has never happened before - in a non-election year, at least," Daniel Acosta from Sao Paulo told the BBC.

"It's a start. What happens now, nobody knows yet, but it gives us hope," he added.

But 18-year-old student Camila Sena said the protests had become much wider and the concession on fare prices would not change much.

"It's not really about the price [of transport] any more," she said while taking part in a protest in the city of Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro, on Wednesday.

"People are so disgusted with the system, so fed up that now we're demanding change."

The current unrest is the biggest since 1992, when people took to the streets to demand the impeachment of then-President Fernando Collor de Mello.

[gilly]

[QUOTE=CharlesInCharge;8262910]Cops RUN from the people in Brazil, WITH VIDEO + live video link
Cops RUN from the people in Brazil, WITH VIDEO


holy.. that cop got knocked out at the end of the video.

[Ronin]

I saw a picture of that cop after...he did not look well. They smashed his head against the sidewalk...he was just leaking blood out the back of his head after they swarmed him. Dude should've run with the rest of them.