Brazil Protesters Want President Impeached

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in major cities in Brazil calling for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.

More than 200 towns and cities across Brazil are expected to participate in the protests, including the metropolis Sao Paulo and the 2016 Olympic host city Rio de Janeiro, where an Olympic cycling test event had to be rerouted because of the demonstrations.

Marchers took over Copacabana beach in Rio and also demonstrated outside congress in the capital Brasilia.

“We hear all about budget cuts, but so far it’s only hurting people like me”, said Francisco Mosack, a retired metalworker from the humble Sao Paulo neighborhood of Capao Redondo, who complained that his electric bill had almost doubled in a year. Rousseff has seen declining poll numbers, with many voters blaming her for failing to eradicating corruption in the government. Protestors, wearing the jerseys of the Brazilian national football team, sang the national anthem and carried posters saying: “Dilma Out”.

The figures indicate that calls for Rousseff’s impeachment may be dwindling though her approval rate is at an all-time low.

People took to the streets to demand the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, even though the perceived mood across the country in recent days has been one of reconciliation. It is a dispiriting state for the most populous country in a continent of vast natural resources, and the world’s seventh-largest economy. Early estimates put the attendance in the tens of thousands – sizeable but not as large as the protests staged in previous months.

“The opposition PSDB Party (Social Democratic Party – opposition to ruling Workers Party) is not leading this protest”.

If inflation creeps above 10% and the economy goes into recession, that could alienate not only the privileged protesters of Sao Paulo, but her own working class base. “But I am concerned that there is no one who could take her place and run a decent government”.

“There’s the widespread feeling that she knew about it, that she was negligent in controlling Petrobras, but she has not been implicated by any of the investigations”.

A survey by the Brazilian company Datafolha showed support for Ms Rousseff’s impeachment was strongest in the poorest areas, which backed her in the last election.

Uncomfortable and arguably weak at defending herself in public, Ms Rousseff has taken to calling on her much more popular predecessor Lula da Silva to help shore up the government.

“While calls for Rousseff to step down will be the headline of Sunday’s demonstrations… the greater risk for the government would be if massive protests become frequent and if they are followed by movements from organized labor”, the firm said.