Several demonstrations aimed at Brazil’s upcoming World Cup tournament took place in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, snarling traffic towards the city center. At least two distinct protests gathered in Rio, organized mainly through online social networks, O Globo reported.
Never before has the World Cup incited these feelings of hatred among Brazilians,’ said Ugo Giorgetti, a prominent Brazilian film-maker and football fan. He seems to speak for many, judging by huge street protests that accompanied last year’s Confederations Cup - demonstrations initially provoked by a hike in bus fares.
Romário, star of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup-winning team and now a socialist politician in the Chambers of Deputies, the lower house in Congress, calls the tournament ‘the biggest heist in the history of Brazil’.
It is not just the delays, the cost and the futility of the stadia that is so abhorrent this time.
As with previous unrest in the country, many of those who showed up to Friday's events covered their faces with masks and wore dark clothing, holding signs with slogans such as “We want schools, subways, trains, buses, and standard hospitals FIFA.” A large group of teachers was said to have taken part in Friday’s mobilization.
