Protests in Brazil

Brazil protests catch authorities on the back foot

New generation radicalised as protests sparked by fury at bus fare hike mushroom into vast rallies against failing public services and cost of World Cup

the Guardian,

18 June, 2013

Brazilians woke up with a mix of euphoria, fear and confusion after the country's biggest night of protest in more than 20 years radicalised a new generation and left the established political class wondering how to react.

Vast demonstrations, in some cases of more than a 100,000 people, swept through at least a dozen major cities on Monday night, with protesters calling for better public services and an end to corruption.

With organisers now planning further protests, the authorities appear to be uncertain what to do next. Although police in some regions cracked down hard, President Dilma Rousseff praised the marchers.

"Brazil woke up stronger today," Rousseff said in a televised speech on Tuesday. "The size of yesterday's demonstrations shows the energy of our democracy, the strength of the voice of the streets and the civility of our population."

The scale is still being assessed. There are estimates of more than 100,000 in Rio, 50,000 in São Paulo and Belo Horizone, as well as many thousands elsewhere. Although these figures are contested, the combined total is likely to be bigger than any demonstration since former president Fernando Collor de Mello was forced from office in 1992.

An increase in bus fares was the spark last week that ignited much of the country, but the huge protests on Monday night were about far more than transport costs. "Far more than the rise in bus fares, this was a mostly peaceful demonstration against a broken transport system, insecurity and heavy investments being made in preparation for the mega sports events that are not mirrored by improvements of our precarious infrastructure," said Paula Paiva Paulo, one of the groups behind the demonstrations.

A Brazilian protester waves a flag during demonstrations in São Paulo, one of at least six major cities caught up in protests. Photograph: Nelson Antoine/AP

Many participants said they joined after seeing images of the police violence against protesters in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia last week.

Bruna Rodriguez was one of many students who joined a rally of tens of thousands in Belo Horizonte, which led to violent clashes with police when the protesters attempted to enter the football stadium where a Confederations Cup match was taking place between Nigeria and Tahiti.

"The police were brutal. Although we were chanting 'no violence', they shot people with rubber bullets and punched and beat them. The vast majority of demonstrators were peaceful, even though the Brazilian media are trying to show we were all vandals. That's not true," she said.

She is now planning to join the next march on Thursday. "It's important to fight for our rights. Brazil is a mess. We spend billions on new stadiums, but don't have good hospitals or schools even though we pay some of the highest taxes in the world."

Marcos Barros joined the protests after learning that his friend, Sergio Silva, had lost the sight of one eye after being shot with a rubber bullet during protests in São Paulo last week.

"He was a photojournalist just doing his job," he said. "It is outrageous that police, who are only supposed to target the legs and then under extreme circumstances, would shoot anyone in the eye, let alone a photographer." Others expressed relief and excitement about being able to express their frustration and desire for a better Brazil.

Tatyana Cardoso, a 32-year-old medical assistant in São Paulo, said she had never taken part in a major protest before. After seeing the violence at first hand last week, she felt obliged to participate.

"I think our police, unfortunately, are not prepared to deal with this kind of situation," she said. "I joined because I'm tired of the corruption in Brazil. There's so many wrong things and nobody does anything. We will host the World Cup, but we don't have a decent public transport, for example. Now I'm feeling extremely happy because I think the citizens discovered that something can be done."The demonstrations coincide with the Confederations Cup – a test event for six of the 12 new or expensively renovated stadiums for next year's World Cup. While football is almost a religion in Brazil, the World Cup has focused resentment on a range of issues, as people question why such huge sums are being spent on stadiums for an international event when the country still lacks basic healthcare and education for millions of its citizens.

A girl suffering from the effects of tear gas used by police is helped during the protests in Sao Paulo on Monday night. Photograph: Nelson Antoine/AP

Hackers from the Anonymous group disrupted the government's official World Cup site and changed the home pages of government websites to call on citizens to take to the streets.

During the protests, placards, graffiti and chants focused on social inequality, a shortage of doctors and teachers, shoddy public infrastructure, corruption, evictions for the World Cup and Olympics, overspends on stadiums and widespread frustration that – 28 years after the dictatorship and 10 years since the Workers' party took power – Brazil is still being run on behalf of an elite.

The marches started peacefully and remained that way for the vast majority. One demonstrator joined the protest in São Paulo bearing a banner reading: "I'm 82. I haven't come here to play." But there were also numerous clashes, as well as fires lit, windows smashed and fighting at the legislative assembly in Rio. State security officials reported 20 officers and nine protesters were injured there, according to O Globo newspaper.

Most of the targets were political: government buildings, regional assemblies and official residences. But there was also evident frustration towards the wider establishment. Windows were smashed at banks and notary offices. The mainstream media, particularly the dominant Globo news group, have also been criticised for their links to those in power, control over football broadcasting schedules and coverage of earlier unrest. Some Globo reporters appear to have removed the icon cubes from their microphones after online calls to target the station.

From their organisation via social networks to their size, the demonstrations bore a resemblance to mass demonstration in other nations. But the comparison with Turkey or the Arab Spring only goes so far, according to historian Marco Antonio Villa. "We live under a system of broad democratic freedoms. Unlike Turkey, we don't have regions involved in a political struggle. Unlike the Arab Spring, there is no theocratic dictatorship to fight against," he said. "In each city here, there is a different cause. But there is a general feeling of exhaustion, of anger, of being fed up with the incompetence, corruption of those in power who had turned their back on the nation."

Some local governments are now offering concessions to the protesters. Officials in the southern city of Porto Alegre and Recife in the north-east have announced plans to lower bus fares.

For Rousseff, the demonstrations should be a wake-up call. Although her ratings are still high at 57%, according to the latest Datafolha poll, they have slipped for the first time since she took office in 2011. The economy is moribund and inflation has pushed prices up by more than 15% over the past 20 months. "My government hears the voices clamouring for change, my government is committed to social transformation," Rousseff said. "Those who took to the streets yesterday sent a clear message to all of society, above all to political leaders at all levels of government."