The World Cup riots: One million Brazilians protest at government spending £18billion on tournament



Protest began against rising bus fares to pay for World Cup stadiums

Now protests target all government corruption

President Dilma Rousseff pledged to hold a dialogue with protest leaders

'The voice of the street must be heard and respected,' she said



Ended her near-silence on protests to say violent could not be tolerated

An 18-year-old was killed by a car during protests in the Sao Paolo area

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds in a bid to control them

More than a million Brazilians took to the streets of at least 80 Brazilian towns and cities in demonstrations that saw violent clashes and renewed calls for an end to government corruption and demands for better public services.

Riot police battled protesters in at least five cities, with some of the most intense clashes in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators swarmed into the city's central area.



An 18-year-old man was killed in Sao Paulo after a car drove through barricades, while television images showed police firing tear gas canisters and rubber bullets into crowds of young men, their faces wrapped in T-shirts.



The scenes prompted president Dilma Rousseff to end her near-silence on the unrest sweeping the country by declaring that 'the voice of the street must be heard and respected'.



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Revolution: A football shirt-clad protester waves the Brazilian flag through clouds of smoke and teargas during violent clashes between protesters and police in Rio de Janeiro

Violent scenes: Policemen from the special Choque unit carry an injured colleague during a protest in Rio de Janeiro of what is now called the 'Tropical Spring' against corruption and bus far price hikes

A protester lies wounded after being shot by police with a rubber bullet along the Presidente Vargas avenue in Rio. Right, one holds a poster reading 'Silveira, do not yet shoot. I guess that one on the left is your son'



Unarmed: Brazilian protesters walk with raised arms as riot police look during Rio's mass protests last night

Solidarity: A taxi driver waves from a flyover to show support for several hundred thousand protesters in Rio



Rouseff delivered an address on primetime TV, which saw her pledge to improve public services and hold a dialogue with protest leaders.

She said peaceful demonstrations were part of a strong democracy, but that violence could not be tolerated.



'I'm going to meet with the leaders of the peaceful protests, I want institutions that are more transparent, more resistant to wrongdoing,' Rouseff said in referecence to perceptions of deep corruption in Brazilian politics, which is emerging as a focal point of the protests.



'It's citizenship and not economic power that must be heard first,' she said.

Flag-waving: A woman waves the Brazilian flag in Fortaleza amid anger over government corruption, high taxes, poor public services, and the billions being spent on the World Cup tournament

United in protest: Crowds of Brazilians hold up signs in Fortaleza as thousands of demonstrators poured onto the streets across the country

Corruption: Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff ended days of near-silence on the protests to deliver an address on prime time television yesterday

'The voice of the street must be heard and respected': The leader pledged to improve public services and to hold a dialogue with protest leaders

Talks: Although the President vowed to hold talks with protest leaders, it remained unclear who could represent the massive and decentralised groups of demonstrators

But it remained unclear exactly who could represent the massive and decentralised groups of demonstrators taking to the streets to vent their anger at woeful public services in spite of high taxes.



The President has called off a scheduled visit to Japan to deal with the crisis.

Though offering no details, Rousseff said that her government would create a national plan for public transportation in cities - a hike in bus and subway fares in many cities was the original catalyst for the protests.



She also reiterated her backing for a plan before congress to invest all oil revenue royalties in education and a promise she made earlier to bring in foreign doctors to areas that lack physicians.

Passion: Demonstrators on their knees wave Brazilian flags in Fortaleza as they voice their anger at the country's government





Force: A military police officer fires tear gas at protesters during anti-government demonstrations in Rio

Poised: Riot police on horse lined up in front of Rio's Teatro Municipal as thousands of Brazilians poured onto the streets to vent their anger at government corruption and poor public services

Peaceful protest: Riot police are seen advancing towards protesters in Rio as two men hold up the Brazilian flag and chant for no violence

'Noise and truculence': A riot police officer kicks a tear gas canister in Brazil, where the president spoke out to say the 'voice of the street' could not be confused with the 'truculence of some troublemakers'

The leader, a former Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil's 1964-1985 military regime and was imprisoned for three years and tortured by the junta, pointedly referred to earlier sacrifices made to free the nation from dictatorship.



'My generation fought a lot so that the voice of the streets could be heard,' Rousseff said.



'Many were persecuted, tortured and many died for this. The voice of the street must be heard and respected and it can't be confused with the noise and truculence of some troublemakers.'

The President had been widely criticised for being all but invisible amid the protests and failing to engage with the people who were demanding her government's attention.



Official estimates suggest that there were more than a million protesters out across the country in total.

Edvaldo Chaves, a 61-year-old doorman in Rio's upscale Flamengo neighborhood, said he found the president's speech yesterday convincing.



'I thought she seemed calm and cool. Plus, because she was a guerrilla and was in exile, she talks about the issue of protests convincingly,' Chaves said.



'I think things are going to calm down. We'll probably keep seeing people in the streets but probably small numbers now.'

Others were less sure, including Bruna Romao, an 18-year-old store clerk in Sao Paulo, who said Rousseff's words probably wouldn't have an impact.



'Brazilians are passionate,' she said. 'We boil over quickly but also cool down fast. But this time it's different, people are in full revolt. I don't see things calming down anytime soon.'



Trying to decipher the president's reaction to the unrest had become a national guessing game, especially after some one million anti-government demonstrators took to the streets nationwide on Thursday night 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.



The protests continued yesterday, as about 1,000 people marched in western Rio de Janeiro city, with some looting stores and invading an enormous $250 million arts center that remains empty after several years of construction.



Unrest: A group of protesters lie on the ground as they wait to be searched by police during anti-government demonstrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

People power: Protesters raise their hands to show they are not armed amid massive anti-government demonstrations sweeping Brazil

In Brasilia, police struggled to keep hundreds of protesters from invading the Foreign Ministry as protesters lit a small fire outside.



Other government buildings were attacked around the capital's central esplanade, and police resorted to tear gas and rubber bullets in attempts to scatter the crowds.

Clashes were also reported in the Amazon jungle city of Belem, in Porto Alegre in the south, in the university town Campinas, north of Sao Paulo, and in the north-eastern city of Salvador.

Carnage: More than a million people are said to have taken to the streets of Brazil Thursday night in the most violent set of anti government protests to hit the country yet

Trying to keep calm: Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds of protestors as trouble flared in more than 80 towns and cities

Damage: Brazilian riot policemen remove a vandalized traffic light in order to advance during riots following a demonstration joined by hundreds of thousands in Rio de Janeiro last night

Burning bright: A protester holds a flag next to a fire during a protest in front of the National Congress in Brasilia

The protests took place a week after a violent police crackdown on a much smaller protests in Sao Paulo galvanised Brazilians to take to the streets.

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



It also comes a month before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the nation, and ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, raising concerns about how Brazilian officials will provide security.

In Salvador, police shot tear gas canisters and rubber bullets to disperse a small crowd of protesters trying to break through a police barrier blocking one of the city's streets.

Attack: Military police approach protestors trying to invade the Foreign Ministry, during an anti-government protest in Brasilia

Mass protest: Demonstrators gather during a protest to demand better public services, in Rio de Janeiro

Taking action: Brazilian riot policemen shoot tear gas during riots following a demonstration joined by hundreds of thousands in Rio

Trouble: A protestor tries to hit riot policemen with a stick during violent clashes last night Countrywide civil unrest: Riot police aim their weapons at demonstrators during an anti-government protest in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil

Caught: Police detain a protestor during clashes between both sides following trouble in Rio

One woman was injured in her foot. Elsewhere in Salvador 5,000 protesters gathered in Campo Grand Square.

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



People in the protests have held up signs asking for everything from education reforms to free bus fares while denouncing the billions of public pounds spent on stadiums in advance of the World Cup and the Olympics.