By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – Television pictures of violent Rio demonstrations plus the accidental death of yet another stadium worker in the Amazon city of Manaus have heaped yet more unwanted publicity on Brazil’s World Cup organisers.
In the latest depressingly familiar scene ahead of this summer’s tournament, several people were arrested and a number of others injured, including a news cameraman who was in a medically induced coma fighting for his life, after some 1,000 protesters took to the streets over hikes in public transport fares. The protest took place at the central train station in Rio.
It was not clear whether the demonstrators or police threw a projectile at Santiago Andrade of the Bandeirantes television network who required surgery to repair damage to his skull.
Although the turnout was far smaller than the one that marred last year’s Confederations Cup, the latest protest, called by the Pasa Livre (free passage) movement, started peacefully but turned violent as demonstrators fought running battles with police.
Meanwhile, in Manaus, workers are threatening to go on strike for better conditions following a third construction-related death at the venue and the seventh altogether. Any walkout could further delay the completion of the Arena da Amazonia just months before the start of the World Cup.
“We have to guarantee the workers’ rights and their safety,’ union leader Cicero Custodio told Brazilian media after a 55-year-old worker was killed while disassembling a crane that was used to install the stadium’s roof.
The Arena da Amazonia is one of the five stadiums still under construction despite Brazil promising all 12 venues would be ready by the end of last year. The local state governor was expected to visit the stadium last Friday to announce the inauguration date, but the visit was cancelled because of the latest fatality.
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