SAO PAULO, March 14 (APP/AFP) – Some three
million Brazilians enraged at corruption, recession and demanding the removal of leftist President Dilma Rousseff demonstrated across Latin America’s biggest nation Sunday.
Chanting “Dilma out!” and draped in the bright yellow and green
national flag, protesters across Brazil sought to pressure Congress into accelerating impeachment proceedings against the leftist leader.
The huge turnout was likely to spur deputies in Congress who had been
wavering over whether or not to drop support for the embattled president.
In Sao Paulo, the most populous city and an opposition stronghold, a
sea of people filled the central avenue for a protest that state police said drew a “historic” 1.4 million demonstrators.
A police count compiled by news site G1 found that some 1.3 million
more protesters attended rallies at other cities around Brazil, not counting Sao Paulo or a large demonstration in Rio de Janeiro. Added together, the figures pointed to an overall turnout of around three million.
“We are at a decisive moment for our country. We are going to start
the change now,” said Rogerio Chequer, leader of Vem Pra Rua, one of the main organizers of the demonstrations, at the Sao Paulo protest.
Organizers said that up to a million people attended, but police
would not confirm this and there was no immediate way to verify conflicting claims.