BRASILIA, Brazil: Street protests erupted early yesterday in the southeastern Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte hours before the national squad was to face Uruguay in the Confederations Cup semi-final.
Demonstrators blocked roads and set a bus ablaze as authorities said they expect 60,00 protesters to turn up when the match kicks off at 1900 GMT in the state capital of Minas Gerais.
State authorities said 1,500 soldiers were to back up 5,700 police and firefighters in case the protests turn violent, as has occurred in various parts of the country over the past two weeks.
A police official, Lt. Col. Alberto Luiz Alves, told Globo television that security forces would act “with civility and firmness.”
Many Brazilians believe that the huge cost of staging the Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup is to the detriment of public investment in health, transport and education.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s congress has shelved legislation that had been a target of nationwide protests, hours before another expected round of large-scale demonstrations yesterday.
The lower house of congress voted 403-9 late Tuesday to drop a measure that would have limited the investigative powers of federal prosecutors, a bill that many feared would make it harder to prosecute official corruption.
Brazil burns amid callfor World Cup boycott
