What started as small protests in a few cities against an increase in bus and subway fares quickly ballooned into a national movement after police fired rubber bullets at protesters in Sao Paulo last week in clashes that injured more than 100 people. The demonstrations, organised mostly by university students through snowballing social media campaigns, mark the first time that Brazilians have taken to the streets on such a large scale since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985.