Hundreds of thousands of people have rallied across Brazil as part of a protest movement over the quality of public services and the high cost of staging the World Cup.
The mounting pressure on the government of President Dilma Rousseff in the face of the biggest street protests the South American country has seen in 20 years has prompted her to cancel a trip to Japan planned for next week.
Local media reported that 1.2 million people took part in rallies across the country of 194 million people – an intensification of the movement which started two weeks following public anger about an increase in public transport fares.
Police fired tear gas in Rio de Janeiro, scene of the biggest protest where 300,000 people demonstrated near City Hall, to disperse a small group of stone-throwing protesters.
At least one person was injured in the clashes, which caused panic in the crowd.
“Don’t run, don’t run,” some shouted as they ran through the clouds of tear gas. Demonstrators meanwhile set ablaze a vehicle owned by the SBT television station.
Violence in Brasilia
In the capital Brasilia, security forces blocked protesters trying to break into the foreign ministry and throwing burning objects.
The military police finally threw a security cordon around the building.
In Sao Paulo, an estimated 110,000 people flooded the main avenida Paulista to celebrate the fare rollback and keep the pressure on Rousseff’s leftist government to increase social spending.
But clashes erupted between a group of ultra-leftists marching behind their red banners and a majority of demonstrators who objected to the presence of political parties.
One of the leftists was hit in the head by a projectile and blamed a member of the ruling Workers Party. Police were forced to intervene to put an end to the clashes.
The protests have escalated into a wider call for an end to government corruption in the world’s seventh largest economy, a call prompted by resentment over the $15bn cost of hosting the Confederations Cup and the World Cup.
Those opposing the hosting of the World Cup are planning a mammoth march to Rio’s iconic Maracana stadium on June 30, the day of the Confederations Cup final.
Protesters say they want higher funding for education and health and a cut in salaries of public officials. They are also protesting against what they viewed as rampant corruption within the political class.
About 15,000 people, most of them in their 20s, gathered just before dusk on Thursday the Alfonso Pena thoroughfare in Belo Horizonte, but a prompt police response of rubber bullets sent them scuttling for cover.
“Brazil, country of corruption,” “We want a serious economic policy,” “Enough, it’s time to speak” and “Brazil is waking up,” were just some of the slogans marchers held aloft as they wound their way through the city centre.
Recife and Salvador rallies
Thousands more marched in Salvador, the capital of Bahia state, and Recife.
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Sao Paulo, said police in Recife said marches there attracted more than 100,000 people, while a small protest in the northeastern city of Salvador resulted in clashes between police and protesters.
As the protests heated up in the evening, Rousseff’s office announced that she would not travel to Japan on June 26-28 as planned for talks with Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime minister.
“She has ultimately decided to postpone this trip, which would have involved several days of travel,” a source in her office told AFP.
“She has decided to stay in Brazil due to current events.”
Many marching against corruption and the cost of the 2014 World Cup are also angry at the media, including the influential Globo network, accused of belittling their movement.
In Sao Paulo, Globo TV crews have been jeered while covering protest rallies and on Tuesday demonstrators set the satellite van of another station ablaze.
Social media networks have been key to the organisation of the mass protests, with demonstrators using the slogan “It’s more than just 20 cents” – a reference to the bus fare hikes – to rally people to their cause.
The movement has no political colouration and no clearly identified leadership.
Al Jazeera’s Adam Raney, reporting from Rio de Janeiro, said the government had yet to establish how to calm the tensions.
“It is overall a leaderless movement. What we’re seeing is the government not just trying to spin the story, but also trying to understand what it is the protesters want, what [they] can deliver,” he said.
“The government is going to take a while to get comfortable dealing with this. They’re going to make the best of it and try to get their police to show a little restraint.”
