By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
June 21 – FIFA and Confederations Cup organisers have said the tournament will still continue as protests across Brazil intensified yesterday. World football’s governing body has said in a statement that neither “FIFA nor the LOC (local organizing committee) have ever discussed any such possibility” of cancelling the tournament.
An estimated million people in 80 cities took to the streets last night to protest against public corruption, poor health and education services, high taxes and big spending on infrastructure, including stadia for the World Cup.
Despite calls by FIFA president Sepp Blatter not to use football as a backdrop for venting their anger, his words almost seemed to have the opposite effect as the calls via social media sites to take to the streets gathered more pace.
President Dilma Rousseff called an emergency meeting of her top Cabinet members for Friday morning (today), more than a week after the protests began, and has cancelled a trip to Japan scheduled for next week.
Security forces struggled to maintain order in several cities Thursday night, firing tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to try and disperse the crowds who have been staging their demonstrations to coincide with the Confederations Cup, the World Cup warm-up tournament which, in the stadiums at least, has generally played out before sellout attendances and a terrific atmosphere.
The largest demonstration was in Rio de Janeiro where an estimated 300,000 people protested in the Centro district intending to march towards the Maracana where Spain were playing Tahiti. The march didn’t make it that far with a police cordon forcing the protestors back. A ring of 1,500 armed police protected the stadium. On the final whistle some supporters were seem leaving the stadium and joining the protest, but generally peacefully.
At least one protester was killed in Sao Paulo. In Brasilia, the capital, police struggled to keep hundreds of protesters from invading the Foreign Ministry in the biggest demonstrations in Brazil for over 20 years, initially sparked by a hike in public transport fees – many of which have now been reversed – but fuelled by resentment over the $3.3 billion being spent on World Cup and Olympic infrastructure, including stadiums.
In the northeastern city of Salvador, police fired tear gas against some of the 20,000 protesters massed two kilometers from the stadium where Uruguay defeated Nigeria 2-1. Vehicles used by FIFA officials were reportedly attacked.
Protesters want more funding for education, health and housing and carried banners to this effect as they made their presence felt. As the trouble got worse, Rousseff’s office announced that she would not travel to Japan on June 26-28 as planned for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
It is understood another huge march to Rio’s iconic Maracana stadium is being planned for June 30, the day of the Confederations Cup final.
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