Amid political transition, Brazilians take to the streets, with many supporting suspended Rousseff

Record ID: 103923

  • Title: Amid political transition, Brazilians take to the streets, with many supporting suspended Rousseff
  • Date: 13th May 2016
  • Summary: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (MAY 12, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS ON AVENUE PAULISTA WITH BANNER THAT READS: "FREEDOM AND STRUGGLE" BANNER THAT READS: "OUT TEMER" REFERRING TO INTERIM PRESIDENT MICHEL TEMER MORE OF FLAGS BEING WAVED VARIOUS OF PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) RESIDENT, VITOR REIS, SAYING: "A civil coup. Today capitalism does not need guns, nor does it need to have enough military. All we need is an anti-democratic judiciary. That is why this happened." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PROTESTING, HOLDING BANNER THAT READS, "TEMER NEVER! RESIST" (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) RESIDENT, LETICIA VIOLA, SAYING: "The people are on the street showing who is in command, because the one who is in command are the people who show not everyone agrees with the government and this (interim) government was not voted in, is not respected, as Dilma would say." PEOPLE WALKING IN PROTEST POSTER THAT READS: "COUP, RESISTANCE" WOMAN SHOUTING: "COUP, FASCIST, THIS WILL NOT PASS" POLITICAL BANNER ON WINDOW, SHOWING PHOTO OF BRAZIL'S INTERIM PRESIDENT MICHEL TEMER
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2016 02:01
  • Keywords: Michel Temer Dilma Rousseff Workers' Party impeachment
  • Location: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
  • City: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
  • Reuters ID: LVA0024HI9D1J
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Sao Paulo after the Senate voted to suspend and put President Dilma Rousseff on trial for allegedly breaking budget laws.
    Fireworks erupted in cities across Brazil after the Senate vote, but the country took the change in stride. Some celebrants in Sao Paulo and other cities draped themselves in Brazil's green, yellow and blue flag, while some Rousseff backers protested.
    Rouseff supporters were seen waving flags while dancing around a bonfire in the street.
    Meanwhile, Brazil's interim President Michel Temer called on his country to rally behind his government of "national salvation."
    Temer, a 75-year-old centrist now moving to steer Latin America's biggest country toward more market-friendly policies, told Brazilians to have "confidence" they would overcome an ongoing crisis sparked by a deep economic recession, political volatility and a sprawling corruption scandal.
    Protesters in Sao Paulo don't trust in Temer. They held up banners that read: "Out Temer!"
    This resident Vitor Reis, called it a coup.
    "A civil coup. Today capitalism does not need guns, nor does it need to have enough military. All we need is an anti-democratic judiciary. That is why this happened," Reis said.
    Other protesters held a giant banner that read: "Temer, never."
    "The people are on the street showing who is in command, because the one who is in command are the people who show not everyone agrees with the government and this (interim) government was not voted in, is not respected, as Dilma would say," said another resident Leticia Viola.
    Brazil's crisis brought a dramatic end to the 13-year rule of the Workers Party, which rode a wave of populist sentiment that swept South America starting around 2000 and enabled a generation of leftist leaders to leverage a boom in the region's commodity exports to pursue ambitious and transformative social policies.
    But like other leftist leaders across the region, Rousseff discovered that the party, after four consecutive terms, overstayed its welcome, especially as commodities prices plummeted and her increasingly unpopular government failed to sustain economic growth.
    In addition to the downturn, Rousseff, in office since 2011, was hobbled by the corruption scandal and a political opposition determined to oust her.
    After Rousseff's suspension, Temer charged his new ministers while enacting business-friendly policies while maintaining the still-popular social programmes that were the hallmark of the Workers Party. In a sign of slimmer times, the cabinet has 23 ministers, a third fewer than Rousseff's.
    A constitutional scholar who spent decades in Brazil's Congress, Temer faces the momentous challenge of hauling the world's No. 9 economy out of its worst recession since the Great Depression and cutting bloated public spending.
    He quickly named respected former central bank governor Henrique Meirelles as his finance minister, with a mandate to overhaul the costly pension system.
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