Brazil police use pepper spray at austerity protest outside Rio parliament
Source: Associated Press
Brazil police use pepper spray at austerity protest outside Rio parliament
Demonstrators broke barriers outside meeting where legislators proposed ways to cope with post-Olympics fiscal crisis that delayed payment to state workers
Associated Press in Rio de Janeiro
Wednesday 16 November 2016 16.28 EST
Military police have shot pepper spray at demonstrators who broke down barrier fences outside a meeting in Rio de Janeiro where legislators were considering austerity measures to cope with a deepening financial crisis that has kept thousands of public workers from being paid.
The Brazilian federal government sent hundreds of military police to help after a similar protest last week became violent. Wielding shields and pepper spray guns, helmet-clad police formed lines in front of the legislative assembly of Rio de Janeiro state. Over several hours, protesters broke fences in various areas in attempts to get inside.
Violent protests “don’t bring any benefit”, Governor Luiz Fernando Pezao told reporters earlier in the day, urging protesters to “take their ideas inside parliament to resolve this crisis, which isn’t just in Rio de Janeiro, but in all of Brazil”.
The state is mired in fiscal crisis just months after its signature city, Rio de Janeiro, hosted the 2016 Olympics. Thousands of state employees have not been paid, or have been paid months late.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/brazil-rio-de-janeiro-police-pepper-spray-protest-olympics
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