Biggest protests in 20 years sweep Brazil

[Zorro]

Source: Reuters

As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption.

The marches, organized mostly through snowballing social media campaigns, blocked streets and halted traffic in more than a half-dozen cities, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia, where demonstrators climbed onto the roof of Brazil's Congress building and then stormed it.

Monday's demonstrations were the latest in a flurry of protests in the past two weeks that have added to growing unease over Brazil's sluggish economy, high inflation and a spurt in violent crime.

While most of the protests unfolded as a festive display of dissent, some demonstrators in Rio threw rocks at police, set fire to a parked car and vandalized the state assembly building. Vandals also destroyed property in the southern city of Porto Alegre.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/biggest-protests-20-years-sweep-brazil-013823283.html

[Earth_First]

1. That's what a corrupt government with an incredible wealth gap will create...

Billions are being spent to host the World Cup in '14 and The Olympics in '16.

Single mothers and minimum wage earners don't give a shit about the elite hosting extravagent IOC garden parties and Olympic villages. They want a living wage and healthcare.

[ErikJ]

2. On São Paulo's Mean Streets, the Rich Roll in Armored Splendor

On São Paulo's Mean Streets, the Rich Roll in Armored Splendor
High Crime, High Tastes Drive Auto Upgrades; For One 19-Year-Old, a Bulletproof Pink Beetle
.............................................
"I wouldn't drive it unless it was armored," says Ms. Passos. Her bedroom has a pink computer and pink snowboard in it. "Everything that is mine I personalize in pink. I think it's a very pretty and expressive color."

Unlike Ms. Passos and her attention-grabbing car, most Brazilians seek safety by trying not to call attention to themselves, or to their wealth. Publicly traded companies here don't report executives' salaries, fearing disclosure could turn them into targets. And the high-heeled feet of São Paulo's wealthiest women rarely touch the city's pavement. Many descend from their armored vehicles only in guarded garages.

Brazil's armoring industry, including some 120 companies that convert vehicles, got its first big break in 1999, when bandits tried to kidnap the children of Jorge Paulo Lemann, the most famous banker in Brazil. A magazine story headlined "The Hero Car" told the gripping tale of how the bandits' bullets bounced off the car's windows.

Although the market is still small -- less than one percent of all cars sold in Brazil get armored -- sales are jumping again, but this time on a quickening of Brazil's economy that's expanded the ranks of status seekers. "They want to wear a suit, have a nice watch and buy a nice car, so then it needs to be armored," says David Silva Ferreira, a salesman employed at a Mercedes showroom.

The country's armored-car fleet now numbers some 86,300 vehicles according to the Brazilian Association of Armoring, a São Paulo-based trade group. Another 6,000 are added annually.
...............clip

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125253329665697311.html

[WestStar]

3. Protesters setting Legislative Assembly in Rio on fire (AFP)

[xtraxritical]

4. The US should do the same.

[quadrature]

5. Chicago will be able to enjoy the 2016 Olympics...

because the Olympics are somewhere else.

Well done!

[DainBramaged]

6. How long before America's poor wake up?

I hope in my lifetime.....what's left of it.

[Posteritatis]

7. I love President Rousseff's response so far

"Brazil has woken up a stronger country," said President Rousseff.

"The size of yesterday's marches is evidence of the strength of our democracy."

"It is good to see so many young people, and adults - the grandson, the father and the grandfather - together holding the Brazilian flag, singing our anthem and fighting for a better country," said Ms Rousseff.

She said her government had lifted "40 million people into the middle class" but more needed to be done to improve access to free health and education.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22961874

[midnight]

8. Reports of police firing live rounds, close-range pepper spray, and tear gas

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/06/18-5