Brazil leader remains mute amid protests

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) ? More than a week of massive, violent protests across Brazil was met only with stoic silence Friday from President Dilma Rousseff, even after she had called an emergency Cabinet meeting in response to the growing unrest.

Trying to decipher the president's reaction, in fact, has become a national obsession in Brazil, especially after 1 million anti-government demonstrators took to the streets Thursday to denounce everything from poor public services to the billions of dollars spent preparing for next year's World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

More protests were already gearing up Friday in Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza, and demonstrators were calling for mobilizations in 10 cities on Saturday.

Rousseff's aides said they didn't know if the president would address the nation Friday in an attempt to calm protesters, but she was expected to meet in the afternoon with top bishops from the Roman Catholic Church about the protests' possible effects on a papal visit still scheduled for next month in Rio and Sao Paulo state.

Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured during Brazil's military dictatorship, has done little more than show brief support for the demonstrations, which have been the biggest seen here in decades. That mute reaction has triggered furious criticism that she has let the situation spiral out of control.

"Dilma Rousseff and (Brasilia Gov.) Agnelo Queiroz are the epitome of Brazilian rulers," wrote political commentator Fernando Rodrigues in the country's biggest newspaper, Folha de S. Paulo.

"They embody the perplexity and the lack of leadership capabilities of several parties' politicians vis-a-vis the new phenomena of protests without leaders or defined proposals. ... It seems they are just waiting and hoping the tsunami will end."

Gilberto Carvalho, the secretary general of the presidency, provided little direction Friday morning after a meeting to discuss Pope Francis' planned July visit.

"We can't anticipate the future," Carvalho said. "We don't know what it's going to be like. Perhaps things will not be so intense (as the recent protests) but we have to be prepared for anything."

Even Brazilian Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis said Friday Rousseff should address this shaken, 192 million-person nation.

"I imagine that she should say something to the country, make a more official pronouncement," Damasceno Assis said.

The unrest continued into Friday, as several hundred people streamed into an open-air bus station in the sprawling Rio suburb of Barra da Tijuca.

The protesters then made their way onto a major thoroughfare, stopping several lanes of traffic and chanting "come out to the streets, come" as they passed the high-rise apartments that are Barra's trademark.

Three young women brandishing homemade signs reading "Against the Democratic Dictatorship" posed for a photo next to a homeless man lying on a blanket, while a flag vendor did a brisk business with his cape-sized Brazilian flags.

Carlos Cardozo, a 62-year-old financial consultant, said he thought the protest movement could cost Rousseff next year's elections and had joined the protest for the sake of his children. Even as recently as last week, Rousseff had enjoyed a 74 percent approval rating in a poll by the business group the National Transport Confederation.

"Her paying lip service by saying she's in favor of the protests is not helping her cause," Cardozo said. "People want to see real action, real decisions and it's not this government that's capable of delivering."

Social media and mass emails were buzzing with calls for a general strike next week. However, Brazil's two largest nationwide unions, the Central Workers Union and the Union Force, said they knew nothing about such an action.

A Thursday night protest in Sao Paulo was the first with a strong union presence, as a drum corps led members wearing matching shirts down the main avenue of the country's biggest city. Many protesters have called for a movement with no ties to political parties or unions, which are widely considered corrupt here.

In the absence of such groups, the protests have been marked by the absence of much organization or even concrete demands, making a unified government response nearly impossible. Several cities have cancelled the transit fare hikes that had originally sparked the demonstrations a week ago, but the outrage has only grown more intense.

The one group behind the reversal of the fare hike, the Free Fare Movement, said on Friday it would not call any more protests. However, it wasn't clear what impact that might have on a movement that has moved far beyond its original complaint.

Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota hit back at protesters the morning after his modernist ministry building was attacked by an enraged crowd Thursday. At one point, smoke had billowed from the building and windows had been shattered along its perimeter.

Standing before the ministry, he told reporters he "was very angry" that protesters attacked a structure "that represents the search for understanding through dialogue." Patriota called for protesters "to convey their demands peacefully."

"I believe that the great majority of the protesters are not taking part in this violence and are instead looking to improve Brazil's democracy via legitimate forms of protest," Patriota said.

Most protesters have been peaceful, and crowds have taken to chanting "No violence! No violence!" when small groups have prepared to burn and smash. The more violent demonstrators have taken over once night has fallen.

Protesters and police clashed in several cities into the early hours Friday.

At least one protester was killed in Sao Paulo state when a driver apparently became enraged about being unable to travel along a street and rammed his car into a group of demonstrators. News reports also said a 54-year-old cleaning woman had died Friday after inhaling tear gas the night before while taking cover in a historic trolley car.

In Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators poured into the seaside city's center, running clashes played out between riot police and clusters of mostly young men with T-shirts wrapped around their faces.

At least 40 people were injured in Rio, including protesters such as Michele Menezes, a wisp of a woman whose youthful face and braces belied her 26 years. Bleeding and with her hair singed from the explosion of a tear gas canister, she said she and others took refuge from the violence in an open bar, only to have a police officer toss the canister inside.

"I was leaving a peaceful protest and it's not the thugs that attack me but the police themselves," said Menezes, removing her wire-rim glasses to wipe her bloodshot eyes.

The protests took place one week after a violent police crackdown on a small demonstration against an increase in bus and subway fares in Sao Paulo galvanized Brazilians to take their grievances to the streets.

The unrest is hitting the nation as it hosts the Confederations Cup soccer tournament, with tens of thousands of foreign visitors in attendance.

Mass protests have been rare in this country of 190 million people in recent years, and the mushrooming demonstrations of the past week caught Brazilian government officials by surprise while delighting many citizens.

Despite the energy on the street, many protesters said they were unsure how the movement would win real political concessions.

"This is the start of a structural change in Brazil," said Aline Campos, a 29-year-old publicist in Brasilia. "People now want to make sure their money is well spent, that it's not wasted through corruption."

___

Barchfield reported from Rio de Janeiro and Brooks from Sao Paulo. Associated Press writer Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brazil-leader-remains-mute-amid-protests-165703764.html

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