Hundreds
of thousands of Brazilians flooded the streets on Sunday in the biggest
ever protests calling for President Dilma Rousseff's removal,
reflecting rising popular anger that could encourage Congress to impeach
the leftist leader. The
demonstrations were the latest in a wave of anti-government rallies that
lost momentum late last year but have regained strength as a sweeping
corruption investigation nears Rousseff's inner circle.
From
the Amazon jungle city of Manaus to the business hub of Sao Paulo and
the capital Brasilia, protesters marched in a nationwide call for
Rousseff to step down, raising pressure on lawmakers to back ongoing
impeachment proceedings against her that just a few weeks ago appeared
to be doomed.
Police estimates
from more than 150 cities compiled by news website G1 showed around 3
million Brazilians participated in the demonstrations. Some police
estimates of previous protests have proved to be exaggerated.
Polling
firm Datafolha estimated 500,000 demonstrators in Sao Paulo, the
biggest rally in the city's history and more than twice the size of a
major protest a year ago. The military police put the figure at 1.4
million at the height of the demonstration.
Government
sources contacted by Reuters acknowledged the demonstrations were
bigger than anti-government rallies in March 2015, which gathered as
many as 1 million people.
In the
skyscraper-lined Avenue Paulista in Sao Paulo, a sea of protesters
wearing Brazil's yellow-and-green national colors chanted "Dilma out"
and waved banners that read "Stop the corruption" while music blared
from nearby trucks.
"The country is
at a standstill and we are fighting to keep our company afloat," said
small business owner Monica Giana Micheletti, 49, at the Sao Paulo
demonstration. "We have reached rock bottom."
Many
blame Rousseff for sinking the economy into its worst recession in at
least 25 years. Opinion polls show that more than half of Brazilians
favor the impeachment of the president, re-elected for a second
four-year term in 2014.
Rousseff,
who insists she will not quit, is the latest leftist leader in Latin
America to face upheaval as a decade-long commodities boom that fueled
breakneck growth and social spending comes to an abrupt end.
Ahead
of the demonstrations, tensions were high after Sao Paulo state
prosecutors requested on Thursday the arrest of Rousseff's predecessor
and political mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on money-laundering
charges. A judge still has to decide on the request, which can be
rejected.
As in previous
protests, Sunday's rallies were led by middle-class Brazilians angry
over growing allegations of corruption in Rousseff's administration. No
violence was reported.
Poor
Brazilians, who form the base of the ruling Workers' Party support, have
not turned out in great numbers in recent protests. But their support
for Rousseff has faded as unemployment rises and inflation climbs.
"This
government helped many people buy homes, cars and electronics, but we
still don't have health, education and basic sanitation," said Paulo
Santos, a waiter who stopped at the demonstration which packed the
beach-front avenue in Rio de Janeiro before heading to work.
ANTI-POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT
Many
protesters voiced support for Sergio Moro, the judge overseeing the
two-year-old investigation into a network of political kick-backs and
bribes centered on state oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA).
Some held banners that read "We are all Moro" after the judge's
uncompromising tactics have been criticized by the government.
The demonstrators
took aim at politicians from across the spectrum, including Rousseff's
opponents, as they vented their frustration with a ruling class that has
been widely exposed in the graft probe, known as 'Operation Carwash'.
Dozens of companies and senior business executives have also been implicated.
The
head of the opposition PSDB party, Aecio Neves, and several of his
colleagues were insulted by protesters when they took part in the
demonstration in Sao Paulo, local media reported.
"Brazil
needs to find a new and virtuous path and we will help the country find
that path," said Neves, who narrowly lost the 2014 election to Rousseff
and has called for new polls.
In
Brasilia, protesters inflated a giant doll of Lula wearing a striped
prison uniform and chained to a ball that read "Operation Carwash".
Police estimated about 100,000 protesters took part, but that figure
could not be independently confirmed.
For
Brasilia-based political analyst Leonardo Barreto, the massive scale of
Sunday's demonstrations could accelerate impeachment hearings in
Congress. "Today's protests give legitimacy to this process," he said.
"If the government fails to react, impeachment will move faster."
Popular discontent
grew in recent weeks after a ruling party lawmaker reportedly testified
under a plea bargain and accused Rousseff and Lula of trying to hamper
the Petrobras investigation.
The
corruption scandal has already strained Rousseff's ties with her main
coalition partner, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).
At
its national convention on Saturday, the PMDB said it would decide in a
month whether to break with the government. Party insiders said the
mood of the country would be decisive.
If Rousseff is impeached by Congress, the leader of the PMDB, Vice-President Michel Temer, would take office.
In
an effort to analyze the fallout from the protests, Rousseff met with a
handful of ministers at her home in Brasilia, a presidential aide said.
Rousseff's press office welcomed
the peaceful nature of the demonstrations, saying it reflected the
maturity of the country's democracy.
Small groups of a few hundreds of her supporters wearing red shirts also marched in several cities.
Shares in Brazilian companies and Brazil's real currency BRL=
have surged in recent weeks as investors bet that a change in
government would lift business and consumer confidence and rescue an
economy that contracted 3.8 percent last year.
Political
tensions have stalled Rousseff's legislative agenda, which included
measures to limit public spending and overhaul a costly pension system
to regain investors' trust.
(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Viga in Rio de Janeiro, Anthony Boadle
in Brasilia, and Cesar Bianconi in Sao Paulo; Editing by Daniel Flynn,
Angus MacSwan, Jonathan Oatis and Andrew Hay)
Cardboard cutouts depicting Brazil's former
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (R) and Brazil's President Dilma
Rousseff are seen during a protest against Rousseff, part of nationwide
protests calling for her impeachment, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 13,
2016.
Inflatable
dolls known as "Pixuleco" of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva and Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff are seen during a
protest against Rousseff in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 13, 2016.
(Reuters)
Sao Paulo, Brazil:
More than three million Brazilians,
according to police, demonstrated on Sunday across Latin America's
biggest nation to demand the ouster of embattled President Dilma
Rousseff.
Chanting "Dilma out!" and draped in the bright yellow and green national
flag, protesters across Brazil sought to pressure Congress into
accelerating impeachment proceedings against the leftist leader, blamed
for a massive corruption scandal and the worst economic recession in a
quarter century.
"We are at a decisive moment for our country. We are going to start the
change now," said Rogerio Chequer, leader of Vem Pra Rua, one of the
main organizers of the demonstrations, at the Sao Paulo protest.
Helio
Bicudo, a prominent lawyer who once supported the government but helped
initiate the push for impeachment told the Sao Paulo protesters:
"Brazil can't take being looted and robbed anymore, it can't take more
incompetence and corruption."
A big turnout was likely to spur deputies in Congress who had been
wavering over whether or not to drop support for the increasingly
isolated president.
"This has been a very bad weekend for the government," said analyst Sergio Praca at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio.
"The demonstrations were very powerful... It's the worst scenario possible for the government."
Numbers games
However, as after every large demonstration in this highly polarized
country, there were sharply varying estimates of the numbers.
In Sao Paulo, the most populous city and an opposition stronghold, a sea
of people filled the central avenue for a protest that state military
police said drew a "historic" 1.4 million demonstrators.
On previous occasions, the military police have been accused of inflating numbers at anti-government protests.
Respected research center Datafolha calculated that the total in Sao
Paulo was only 500,000, although it said that even this would be a
record number.
A national police count compiled by news site G1 found that some 1.3
million more protesters attended rallies at some 400 cities around
Brazil, not counting Sao Paulo or a large demonstration in Rio de
Janeiro.
Added together, the figures pointed to an overall turnout of around 3.5 million.
Opposition organizers came up with a national figure about double that.
In Rio de Janeiro, which will host the Summer Olympics in August,
protesters singing and dancing to samba songs swarmed along the
beachfront avenue in Copacabana.
The turnout was impressive, but the organizers' claim that one million
attended there appeared far-fetched. There was no police estimate for
Rio.
Lula In Trouble
Rousseff and her Workers' Party are struggling to hold on to power in
the face of a probe into a massive bribes and embezzlement scandal at
state oil company Petrobras.
Prosecutors' highest-profile target is Rousseff's key mentor in the Workers' Party, ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Prosecutors have filed money laundering charges and requested he be put
into preventative detention. Lula vigorously denies the allegations.
Rousseff is also presiding over a stinging recession, with the economy
shrinking 3.8 per cent last year and the country losing its investment
grade credit ratings.
With divisions intensifying across the country, there had been fears of violence.
But in Sao Paulo, many protesters brought their children, as if on a
family outing, while in Rio demonstrators paused between singing samba
tunes to buy coconut water from street hawkers.
Still, there was no disguising the anger.
"We need to get rid of Dilma, the Workers' Party, the whole lot," said
Rio resident Maria do Carmo, 73, who was carrying a Brazilian flag.
"It's not their time anymore."
Many protesters held placards depicting Rousseff and Lula as prisoners,
while others praised the chief investigating judge in the Petrobras
scandal, Sergio Moro, as "Our national pride."
"I want Dilma's impeachment now," said Gaudino Inacio, 70, at the Sao Paulo demonstration.
"She's useless because she is unable to govern the country. After, we can have new elections."
Congressional allies defecting?
A bid was launched in Congress late last year to impeach Rousseff over
allegations that her government illegally manipulated accounts to boost
public spending during her 2014 re-election campaign.
The impeachment procedure has stalled, but looks set to pick up again.
And analysts said deputies will have watched turnout on Sunday closely
before deciding which way they should vote.
Judging by the police figures, that turnout exceeded anything seen in
the past -- amounting to a humiliating vote of no-confidence in
Rousseff's administration.
The biggest anti-government protest last year, in March, included an
estimated 1.7 million people across Brazil, with a million in Sao Paulo
alone. Some 1.2 million people attended another six months later.
In any case, Rousseff's problems are rapidly piling up.
With Lula fighting for his political life, Rousseff is at risk of losing
a vital ally, while a leaked report in a Brazilian magazine suggests
that she too may be accused in the Petrobras probe.
Now a new threat is looming over Rousseff -- the potential exit of the
PMDB party from a shaky coalition with her Workers' Party. Party members
agreed on Saturday to decide in 30 days.
More than a million Brazilians have joined anti-government rallies
across the country, ramping up the pressure on embattled president Dilma Rousseff.
Already struggling with an impeachment challenge, the worst recession in a century and the biggest corruption scandal in Brazil’s history, the Workers party leader was given another reason to doubt she will complete her four-year term.
The demonstrations on Sunday – which reached all 26 states and the
federal district – were expected to be bigger than similar rallies last
year. The largest took place in São Paulo, where the polling company
Datafolha estimated the crowd at 450,000, more than double the number it
registered last year.
An inflatable doll known as ‘Pixuleco’, portraying Brazil’s former
president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is seen inside a cage during a
protest in Brasilia. Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
Organisers, police and local media calculated far greater numbers. According to police sources cited by Globo,
3.5 million people took part nationwide in 326 cites, including 100,000
in Brasilia and 70,000 in Curitiba. The exact figures are contested,
but undeniably huge.
In Rio de Janeiro, dense crowds stretched along the beachfront from
Copacabana to Leme, and organisers estimated there were as many as a
million participants. Police had yet to provide figures, but it looked
likely to exceed 100,000.
Many protesters wore the canary yellow shirts of the national
football team, or draped themselves in the national flag. Others carried
banners expressing anger at bribery scandals and economic woes.
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