Brazilians protest after new post gives Lula immunity

BRASILIA/SÃO PAULO: Protests erupted in several Brazilian cities on Wednesday after President Dilma Rousseff named her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva chief of staff and a taped conversation fed opposition claims that the move was meant to shield Lula from prosecution.

In the capital Brasilia, riot police fired pepper spray at more than 5 000 demonstrators who filled the streets outside the presidential palace, waving banners calling for the leftist leader’s resignation and the arrest of da Silva.

Thousands more demonstrators packed the main Avenue Paulista in São Paulo, Brazil’s financial hub, which was the centre of national protests on Sunday that drew more than 1 million people onto the streets in a call for Rousseff ’s departure.

With Brazil’s economy in its worst recession in a generation, popular anger at Rousseff is mounting as an investigation into bribes and political kickbacks at state oil company Petrobras taints her inner circle.

Lula, a 70-year-old former union leader whose 2003-2010 government helped lift some 40 million Brazilians out of poverty, remains one of Brazil’s most influential politicians.

However, the corruption investigation has weakened his sway in Congress and there are growing signs that Rousseff ’s main coalition partner is preparing to abandon the government. – Reuters