Army Takes Over Brazil’s Capital After Protesters Invade and Break Government Buildings

The Brazilian Army took over positions close to the presidential palace and ministry buildings after a group of some 50 people wearing masks started a fracas during the demonstration against President Michel Temer in Brasília. This, after Military Police agents dispersed some of the protesters with tear gas bombs and stun grenades.

The masked protesters destroyed blinds and glass windows of at least six ministry buildings, among them that of National Integration, Labor, and also Agriculture, which, despite being surrounded by a security fence, had much of its glass shattered.

Also wrecked were bus stops, traffic signs, public phones, the floodlights that light the lettering identifying the ministries, and even the chemical toilets that had been installed ahead of the march.

The demonstration, dubbed Ocupa Brasília (Occupy Brasília) was called by union centers opposing the pension and labor reforms. They also call for the ouster of President Temer. Due to the protests, all of the esplanade, where the ministries are located, was closed for cars.

The riot police cracked down on tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets against Temer and calling for fresh direct elections after the latest corruption scandal to rock the government.

“Out with Temer! General election now!” chanted the massive crowds, estimated by organizers to number as many as 150,000, a large turnout in the federal district with a population of 3 million. Armed riot police forces met the demonstrators with tear gas.

“Today is a defining day for the working class. Our rights are threatened by the coup and there is no respect for our dignity. We are being assaulted,” Roberto Sousa e Silva, a public school teacher, told reporters.

Under the banner of Occupy Brasilia, the demonstrations demanded the president resign and prompt new general elections, earlier than the scheduled presidential race in 2018.

Conservative forces are gunning for indirect elections through Congress to replace the president in the event he steps down or is removed from office through an impeachment process or pending trial on illegal election financing.

The Temer government has also sparked outcry for months with a series of neoliberal austerity policies rolling back social and economic rights, including with a reform that freezing public spending for the next two decades.

The regressive changes are expected to hit poor, marginalized Brazilians hardest with cuts to education, health and other social programs.

“Indirect elections do not solve the problem of the crisis, the population, the reforms that the government is trying to carry out,” argued Porto Alegre youth activist Caio Picareli.

“This Congress that would hold the election is the most reactionary in the history of Brazil, because it is tied to the interests of the large economic groups.”

T-shirts, banners and other signs at the march prominently featured the call for “Direct elections, now!”

The latest protests against the Temer administration, installed last year with the removal of former President Dilma Rousseff in an impeachment process widely condemned as a parliamentary coup, come on the heels of still another scandal to hit the government after a wiretap recording revealed Temer had endorsed bribes to keep quiet a powerful witness in corruption investigations.

Temer faces investigations for corruption and obstruction of justice after the damning wiretap.

The president has vowed that he will not step down over the scandal, saying in an interview with Brazil’s Folha de São Paulo newspaper, “I won’t resign, oust me if you want.”

ABr/TS

Tags:

You May Also Like

Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara, who died in 1999, was an advocate for Liberation Theology. He was the Archbishop of Olinda and Recife

What the World Can Learn from a Moribund Liberation Theology

This June saw the passing of two of our generation’s most fascinating and controversial ...

Lula carried on shoulder of fans before being jailed - Ricardo Stuckert

Brazil’s Top Electoral Court Kills Lula’s Presidential Ambitions

Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has voted to ban former President Luiz Inácio Lula ...

Brazil president Bolsonaro at a ceremony celebrating his 100 days in power. Photo: Alan Santos/PR

Brazil Bolsonaro’s Very Short Honeymoon. His Lack of Experience Is Showing

Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro’s decision to mark the symbolic milestone of 100 days ...

Accident or Not, the Death of a Justice Helps the New Brazilian President

The tragic death of Teori Zavascki, the Brazilian Supreme Court Justice who died in ...

Senate Has Already Decided Brazil President’s Fate. The Vote Will Be Cast Today

For the last time on Tuesday, the Brazilian Senate heard the arguments of the ...

People skilled with weapons, sometimes linked to the state, use violence to ensure illicit activities. Giuseppe Flandoli/Shutterstock

The Future of the Amazon and the World Climate Is in the Hands of the Brazilian Militias

The future of the environmental agenda is on a collision course with Brazil’s violent ...

Jair Bolsonaro and Narendra Modi shake hands at a 2020 meeting

How the Populist Leaders of Brazil and India Made Their Countries World Champions of Covid

India recently pushed Brazil out of the media spotlight with its surge in coronavirus ...

Brazil’s Supreme Decides to Investigate Rousseff and Lula for Obstruction of Justice

Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) Justice Teori Zavascki has authorized Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot to look ...

Avenida Paulista: Lula talks to people who participated in the general strike - Paulo Pinto/Ag. PT

If the Polls Are Right and He Stays Out of Prison, Lula Will Be Brazil’s Next President

A recent poll commissioned by the Central Worker’s Union and conducted by Vox Populi ...