International News

BRASMLIA, (APP/AFP): Brazil faces noisy protests and rowdy
debates in congress Saturday as this year’s Olympic host country heads for a vote on whether to drive President Dilma Rousseff from office.
The Sunday vote could topple the 68-year-old leftist leader, in a
political crisis threatening to destabilize Latin America’s biggest economy as it struggles through a recession.
Rousseff’s supporters and opponents planned rival rallies over the
weekend as lawmakers debate a motion to send her to an impeachment trial in the Senate.
The president’s supporters have been gathering for days in a stadium in the capital Brasilia, where she was expected to visit them on Saturday.
Police tightly guarded the area around Congress, which was surrounded with metal barriers.
Pro- and anti-Rousseff rallies are also planned in other cities on Sunday, including the economic capital Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where the Summer Olympics will be held in August.
Lower house lawmakers were due to make further speeches on Saturday and Sunday before voting late Sunday on whether to call for an impeachment trial.