Protestors demand removal of Brazil’s Rousseff
Print Edition
THOUSANDS of protestors poured onto the streets of major cities yesterday to demand the removal of President Dilma Rousseff amid Brazil’s worst political and economic crisis in a generation.
The demonstrations are the latest in a wave of anti-government rallies that lost momentum late last year but could gain strength as a sweeping corruption investigation nears Rousseff’s inner circle.
The magnitude of the protests yesterday could be decisive in convincing a divided Congress to back ongoing impeachment procedings against Rousseff. The leftist leader is blamed by many in Brazil for sinking Latin America’s largest economy into its worst recession in at least 25 years.
Polls show that over half of Brazilians favor the impeachment of Rousseff, who was re-elected by a slim margin for a second four-year term in 2014.
Tensions ahead of the demonstrations were high after Sao Paulo state prosecutors requested the arrest of Rousseff’s political mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on money-laundering charges.
Rousseff has called for calm as her government fears clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters.
A demonstration in the capital Brasilia was peaceful with thousands wearing the national yellow soccer jersey and holding banners that read “Dilma out” and “Impeachment now.”
Protesters inflated a giant doll of Lula wearing a striped prison uniform and chained to a ball that read “Operation Carwash” — the name of the investigation centered on state oil company Petrobras.
Although no official figures were immediately available, authorities expect the demonstrations to be as big as the anti-government rallies of March 2015, which gathered as many as one million people.
Popular discontent grew in recent weeks after a ruling party lawmaker reportedly used plea bargain testimony to accuse Rousseff and Lula of trying to hamper the Petrobras investigation. The probe has implicated senior politicians from Rousseff’s coalition as well as top business executives.
The two-year-old probe has strained Rousseff’s ties with her main coalition partner, Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB). At its national convention on Saturday, the PMDB threatened to break with her government and join the opposition.
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