Brazil impeachment protests downsized
Rousseff is fighting for her political life as she stands accused of illegal budgeting manoeuvres
Thousands took to the streets in cities across Brazil on Sunday demanding that embattled President Dilma Rousseff — facing a weak economy and calls for her impeachment — be removed from office.
Rousseff is fighting for her political life as she stands accused of illegal budgeting manoeuvres that she says were long-accepted practices by previous governments.
A one-time political prisoner during the 1964-1985 military regime, Rousseff derides the attempt to bring her down as a “coup.”
“Time has shown that Dilma is unable to govern. She’s thrown the country down a well,” argued Adriano de Queiroz, 36, a protester in the capital, Brasilia.
One small bit of good news for Rousseff was that turnout at the rallies, seen as a barometer of the national mood, was lower than expected. The turnout hit a total of about 83,000 across 87 cities, the Globo G1 news website
It was the fourth time this year that demonstrators across the sprawling nation of 204 million marched to demand the removal of the country’s first female president.
cited police as saying. Organisers disputed that figure, saying that 407,000 had marched in protest.
Either way, the figures are sharply lower than the 2.4 million anti-Rousseff marchers that took to the streets on March 15, or the nearly 900,000 that marched in mid-August. Just days ago, pro-Rousseff and opposition lawmakers shoved and screamed at each other in Congress during a vote to form an impeachment commission.
But protesters in the streets were much calmer on Sunday.
In Brasilia, thousands marched peacefully behind a giant inflatable Rousseff dressed up as Pinocchio. And about 30,000 rallied in the country’s wealthy industrial and financial hub Sao Paulo, G1 reported. It was the fourth time this year that demonstrators across the sprawling nation of 204 million marched to demand the removal of the country’s first female president.
Organisers blamed the weak turnout on calling the march with just 15 days notice. “We were expecting fewer people [on Sunday] because in the other marches we had two to three months to organise ourselves,” said Kim Kataguiri, national coordinator for the Brazil Libre protest group.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court suspended for one week the commission that will recommend whether or not Congress should impeach the president, citing irregularities. Of the 65 lawmakers elected in controversial circumstances to the panel, about 30 per cent face criminal probes, according to a detailed count by specialist website, Congresso em Foco.