Brazil - Brazilians Stage Protests and Strikes With World Cup Weeks Away

A police strike in Brazil’s northeast and protests in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo last night marked what social movements said was the start of nationwide demonstrations four weeks before the World Cup. The federal government yesterday dispatched armored trucks and National Guard troops to quell looting in Recife after police temporarily walked out of the job in one of the 12 cities slated to host the world’s most-watched sporting event. Protesters marching in opposition to the tournament clashed with police in Sao Paulo.
Globo TV showed masked youths burning street barricades and hurling stones in Brazil’s biggest city. “People can complain, protest, dispute — that’s legitimate democracy,” Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo told reporters last night after traveling to Recife. “What’s not legitimate is creating panic, disturbance, discomfort and damage to Brazilian citizens.” The World Cup has become a test for President Dilma Rousseff ahead of elections in October. Workers may threaten to disrupt the event with more strikes while street demonstrations may escalate as they did last year, Joao Augusto de Castro Neves, an analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said. “If there’s a case like last year of police brutality or a fatality, that could get into negative spiral,” Neves said by phone last night. “These protests could gain a similar scale as they gained last year.”


Pepper Spray
Protests took place in at least 12 cities throughout Brazil yesterday, according to Globo TV. Police deployed pepper spray and used nightsticks against demonstrators from the landless movement in Brasilia, according the website of the news organization. Prison workers in Bahia state, where host city Salvador is located, went on strike as well. At least seven people in Sao Paulo were detained following demonstrations that included teachers protesting for better pay, according to a posting on the military police’s Twitter page.
In Recife, the police said they would end the strike to prevent further violence after schools and shops shut down out of concerns for safety, Globo’s G1 website reported. Last June, a bus fare increase sparked Brazil’s biggest demonstrations in two decades, bringing 1 million marchers into the streets to demand better transport, health and education services. The protests occurred during the Confederations Cup, a warm-up event for the monthlong World Cup that begins June 12, and drove Rousseff’s popularity to an all-time low.
Protests took place in at least 12 cities throughout Brazil yesterday, according to Globo TV. Police deployed pepper spray and used nightsticks against demonstrators from the landless movement in Brasilia, according the website of the news organization. Prison workers in Bahia state, where host city Salvador is located, went on strike as well. At least seven people in Sao Paulo were detained following demonstrations that included teachers protesting for better pay, according to a posting on the military police’s Twitter page.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-16/brazilians-stage-protests-and-strikes-with-world-cup-weeks-away.html


FBI aiding Brazil police in Cup challenge
Brazilian police compared notes with US law enforcement officers here Thursday as they geared up for a mammoth security operation at next month’s World Cup. With fresh protests against the tournament rippling across Brazil, a gun-toting shock battalion of Rio military police held a mock crowd control drill complete with helicopter and fake tear gas. Military police Colonel Andre Vidal said input for US advisers had been useful as Brazil prepares to drape a 170,000-strong World Cup security blanket across the June 12-July 13 tournament.
“We will not be changing our modus operandi for the World Cup,” Vidal stressed, while adding information-sharing was a useful means of determining “how to act in the best way possible” during the World Cup. “This is an exchange of experiences to learn from different countries,” said Vidal. The Brazilians have also studied riot policing techniques in European countries including Spain and Germany.