Brazilians hold nationwide rallies to back President Rousseff
Tens of thousands of Brazilians have held nationwide rallies in support of President Dilma Rousseff who is facing impeachment amid a campaign for her ouster.
The demonstration, organized by major unions, was held in a number of cities including the capital Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.
The protesters condemned what they describe as a “coup” aimed at removing Rousseff from power, chanting “there will be no coup.”
Police said some 50,000 people took part in the demonstration, while the organizers put the number of participants at about 300,000.
Last week, a much lower number of people took part in an anti-Rousseff demonstration across Brazil to urge the 68-year-old president to resign.
Rousseff stands accused of violating budget laws to push up spending during her 2014 re-election campaign. Impeachment proceedings against her were opened on December 2 by Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha. However, she denies the allegations and terms attempts to bring her government down a “coup.”
The tug of war has complicated the situation in Brazil which is experiencing its worst economic recession in at least 25 years.
Meanwhile, many of Rousseff’s allies are implicated in a corruption scandal at state-run oil firm Petrobras. Rousseff was chairwoman of the company from 2003 to 2010, and many argue that she could not have known about the corruption.
Rousseff was re-elected last year as president of Brazil for her second term. Her government is now facing many challenges, including high inflation, unemployment, recession and a financial deficit.
Currently, the opposition does not have enough votes to impeach Rousseff, and the driving force behind the impeachment bid, Cunha, is himself facing formal charges of taking as much as USD 40 million in bribes in the Petrobras investigation.
Many believe that the impeachment crisis is partly related to Cunha’s attempt to distract attention from his case.
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