SAO PAULO
Anti-government protesters took to the streets of virtually every Brazilian state on Sunday to protest against corruption, a slowing economy and to call for the removal of President Dilma Rousseff and her government.
According to latest updates from police sources, at least 682,000 people took part across the country. Organizers put the figure at 1.5 million, according to the G1 news portal.
Protests were reported in no fewer than 193 cities in at least 24 states and the Federal District.
At the country's biggest demonstration, on Sao Paulo's central Avenida Paulista boulevard, police estimated that 275,000 people had come to protest against the government. The Datafolha polling institute put the figure at 92,000.
Around 25,000 protested in the capital, Brasilia, and 12,000 in Rio de Janeiro, police said.
Protesters came swathed in Brazilian flags, dressed – and in some cases face-painted – in patriotic greens and yellows. Many had banners with slogans calling for Rousseff and her Workers' Party (PT) to be removed from power.
Corruption and Brazil's flagging economy were themes which echoed throughout the event in Sao Paulo, with many naming Rousseff, her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and various members of her ruling government as responsible.
Some protesters again called for impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, citing mounting evidence against political figures close to her in connection with a mass corruption scandal at state-run oil giant Petrobras.
A small number of protesters urged a "constitutional military intervention" to seize power from the ruling government.
The number of protesters taking part in Sunday's nationwide events was, however, lower than at the first such protest, on March 15, when police said 1.7 million had taken to the streets, with a million on Avenida Paulista alone.
University lecturer Marcia Carvalho told The Anadolu Agency she was “tired of being lied to”: “I have had enough of all the robbing, corruption, and lying in our country's politics. We need a change, and not just the president, but the whole cabinet.”
Others were less optimistic that impeachment could be achieved, and skeptical that others in her coalition would do a better, or more honest, job:
"I'm not against [Rousseff]. I'm for honesty and respect for the Brazilian people, for whom our government shows immense contempt. The problem is that if we say we want to force Dilma out, who will replace her?" environmental analyst Marisa Alonso told AA.
A survey released by Datafolha on Saturday showed that 63 percent of Brazilians were in favor of Rousseff's impeachment.
However, the same poll showed few respondents knew that Vice President Michel Temer, a member of the PMDB party, whose members make up much of the country's multi-party coalition, would take Rousseff's place were she to be finally impeached.
Rousseff was narrowly re-elected last October in a runoff vote against opposition leader Aecio Neves.
