A rock concert in Berlin or London?? Can you name that country or even the city?
Many would probably never guess this is Brazil. A major protest in her largest city Sao Paulo. What supposedly started as a demonstration against a minor hike in bus fare, which by Brazilian standards is fairly large, escalated into protests which spread around this country of about 175 million souls.
“Protestors – mainly students – are taking the streets of Sao Paulo. The problem: the government just raised the bus fare from R$3 to R$3,20. The protests are getting a really violent reception from the police. You can see a video of the police action. The problem isn’t the 20 cents. I think the real problem is that we are having so many issues of inflation, very high taxes, corruption – 2014 World Cup stadiums being built with public money, costing about $1 billion each pop – so future looks really bleak here. Everything seems to be boiling after this 20 cents.
No guns of any kind are allowed in Brazil, except for the gangs of course. This is why the MP (Military Police) felt confident when attempting to disperse the protesters with only pepper spray, batons and tear gas.
And rubber bullets.
And it wasn’t just the protesters the MP were intent on dispersing, it was the press as well. In a country run by an avowed Marxist, Dilma Rousseff, who in my opinion and in the opinion of others as well, is intent on elevating her world status at the expense of Brazil’s people, of course wants to keep as much news as possible about these protests from leaking outside the country. Notice the expression of this MP officer’s face as he pepper sprays a member of the press:
Below is a most telling video right from the horse’s mouth:
Notice a woman from the press being injured by an MP baton.
As Brazil prepared for a soccer game yesterday against Japan protesters even took to the streets in the capital, Brasilia, to protest the high cost of hosting the World Cup in 2014.
Tear gas bombs were thrown by the police and pepper spray was used to try to control the protesters as they moved near the venue. Local media said police later shot rubber bullets to disperse the crowd and at least two people were injured, including a 16-year-old student. Authorities said 15 people were arrested.
So how many readers have heard about these protests? The majority of the info I’ve gotten has unfortunately not been from NBC, CBS or ABC. But from twitter. CNN did at least allow a posting by what appears to be a brasileiro. The comments are most telling about the situation there: (note, misspellings are by the poster).
If CNN puclishes this article, it will be helping the democratic process in Brazil. We are trying to truly live in democracy, but our government does no accept our people’s will. Our media helps this corrupt government because it receives special favors conceded by those in power. If it weren’t for the internet, nobody would be able to understand what really is going on in our country.
As protests from other countries about poor living conditions, economic problems and government corruption spread from the Middle East, Europe and Turkey brasileiros in other countries are attempting to organize massive “support protests” around the world for this coming Tuesday in support of Brazil. 27 countries at this point.
So what is now a *headache* for President Rousseff may very well turn into a *migraine* on Tuesday. But not to worry, perhaps Obama will come to the rescue. After all, they are pals….
Crossposted at Grumpy Opinions
