Strike over labor laws and pensions halts much of Brazil

SAO PAULO — Public transport largely came to a halt across much of Brazil on Friday as demonstrators blocked roads and clashed with police in a general strike to protest proposed changes to labor laws and the pension system.

Millions stayed home Friday, and thousands flooded the streets in anger, raising questions about whether President Michel Temer will be able to push his proposals through Congress, where they had previously looked likely to pass.

Temer’s administration argues that more flexible labor rules will revive a moribund economy and warns the pension system will go bankrupt without changes. Unions and other groups called for the strike, saying that the changes before Congress will make workers too vulnerable and strip away too many benefits.

In one the largest demonstrations Friday, thousands of protesters gathered in front Rio de Janeiro’s state assembly in the afternoon and were fighting pitched battles with police who tried to remove them. Police fired tear gas while protesters threw stones and lit small fires in the middle of streets around the legislative building in downtown.

A few hundred more protesters massed on a major avenue in Sao Paulo, where police told downtown shopkeepers to close early, apparently out of concern that protesters might head there. Throughout the day, 21 people were arrested in Sao Paulo, according to military police. Most commuter trains and metro lines were stopped in Sao Paulo during the height of morning commute, and all buses stayed off the roads.