A woman carries a flag showing support for Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff during the March of the Daisies, calling for improved rights for women working in rural areas and forests, in Brasilia August 12, 2015.
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A protester in Sao Paulo, one of thousands across Brazil on Sunday, was calling for impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, who’s at the center of a corruption scandal.
Local media reported protests in more than 150 major cities across the country – the third such nationwide outpouring of dissent this year.
In April, at least 600,000 people protested against Dilma Rousseff, and more than a million in March.
“The election and audit courts must operate, as too the Public Ministry (with the investigation into Petrobras), because only then we will have a strong democracy, in which all must comply with the laws, including the President of the Republic”, said Neves. The composition of the protests this time, however, has been overwhelmingly middle class. It would seem that opposition to the Rousseff government is strongly rooted in a reactive swing away from left wing politics and policies. Rousseff’s approval rating has dipped to single-digit lows.
Disgruntled Brazilians took to the streets Sunday to express their discontent with a poor economy and corrupt officials, but not in a massive number the government had feared.
Sensing weakness, congressional leaders have sabotaged much of the president’s economic agenda.
“Although she has been weakened and her party is caught up in the corruption, Rousseff has shown a great deal of independence and she has guaranteed the independence of the institutions”, Mohallem said. Among them, the heads of some of Brazil’s biggest construction companies, several senior figures at Petrobras, and most recently Treasurer of the ruling party Joao Vaccari.
“She must be impeached or resign for ultimately she is responsible for all the corruption and the economic mess this country is in”, said Bizquolo, a doctor.
Radical voices For traditional anti-corruption campaigners out on Sunday, such radical voices only served to dilute the original thrust of the protests, which were sparked by revelations of political graft in state-controlled oil giant Petrobras.
The protests took place at a moment when Rousseff’s popularity has plummeted to record low levels of just 8%, according to pollster Datafolha – the worst for any Brazilian president since 1992.
But investigations by Brazilian Federal Police have unearthed money laundering and bribery on a breathtaking scale in a scandal which has already unseated key members of Rousseff’s government, reports the BBC.
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“Without a doubt the TCU case is the most solid one of them all…it serves as the basis for an impeachment”, said Paulo Kramer, a Brasilia-based political consultant.
