At least 40 demonstrators stormed Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies demanding a military coup.
The protesters scuffled with guards and took over the podium as a session began on November 16.
Denouncing government corruption, protesters called for a return to military rule – which Brazil saw from 1964 to 1985.
In Rio de Janeiro, police fired tear gas at public sector workers protesting against cuts.
Demonstrators swept past security guards and smashed a glass door to get into the parliament chamber, where they shouted “general here, general here” and sang the national anthem.
According to Reuters, it took police three hours to round up all the protesters.They were all detained.
Later in the day, President Michel Temer’s spokesman, Alexandre Parola, called the protest an “affront” and said it was a “violation of the norms of democratic co-existence.”
Public confidence in Brazilian institutions has been eroded by a massive corruption scandal and the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.
Michel Temer was Dilma Rousseff’s vice-president before being promoted after her dismissal.
Last week Dilma Rousseff filed court documents accusing Michel Temer of accepting a large bribe. Michel Temer’s party says the money was a legal campaign donation.
Brazil was one of several Latin American nations where the military overthrew democratic governments in the 1960s and 70s.
The generals said they were countering the very real threat of a communist insurgency and had support from a considerable part of Brazil’s elite.
The military regime detained, tortured – and in some cases – killed its opponents, while overseeing rapid economic growth.
Also on November 16, protesters gathered outside the state legislature where austerity plans to tackle the city’s financial crisis were being debated
Police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades into a crowd of about 2,000 protesters, ranging from teachers to off-duty police officers, AFP reported.
Brazil has been hit by a drop in global oil and commodity prices and declared a financial emergency ahead of the Rio Olympics earlier this year.
Brazilian oil company Petrobras has announced it will cut 12,000 jobs by 2020.
The voluntary layoff program will help save $9 billion at the company, which has struggled with losses following a price-fixing and bribery scandal.
It has also been hit by the global slump in the price of oil.
Petrobras, which has reported losses for the last two financial years, is expected to spend $1.23 billion on implementing the job cuts plan.
The semi-public company has long been one of the biggest employers in Brazil, with more than 80,000 employees.
However, Petrobras has seen its business hit by the huge falls in oil prices globally and one of the biggest corruption scandals in the country’s history, which has gone to the heart of the country’s government.
Petrobras’ announcement that 12,000 jobs are to be cut over the next five years is part of a investment plan to turn around the company’s fortunes.
The oil producer reported its biggest quarterly loss to date in Q4 of 2015 – $10.2 billion – after losses at its oil fields and refinery projects.
The corruption scandal involving price-fixing, bribery and political kickbacks over the last two years has dented confidence in the business. Some former Petrobras executives have been jailed.
The scandal has also harmed the reputation of Brazil’sPresident Dilma Rousseff, who was on the board of the company at the time of the offences.
Dilma Rousseff is facing the possibility of impeachment on unrelated charges of false accounting.
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has refused to resign over her alleged mishandling of the economy after moves to impeach her.
Dilma Rousseff accused her opponents of causing a political crisis which she said had damaged the economy.
She also defended her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, over money-laundering allegations.
Dilma Rousseff said a prosecutors’ request for his detention had no legal basis.
The ongoing crisis has deepened the worst recession in decades in Brazil – Latin America’s biggest economy.
Dilma Rousseff said she had been democratically elected and had no intention of going.
The inquiry has implicated several business leaders and politicians close to the government including Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Regional prosecutors in Sao Paulo want Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 70, placed in “preventive custody” after charging him with failing to declare ownership of a luxury sea-front penthouse in the seaside resort of Guaruja.
They say this is necessary because he may try to obstruct the investigation. The request still has to be accepted or rejected by a judge.
The former president denies any wrongdoing and says the claims are politically motivated. He says he never owned the apartment.
His lawyer, Cristiano Zanin Martins, said Brazil’s ex-leader had invested in the project and had visited the unfinished apartment but later asked for his money back rather than receiving the property.
President Dilma Rousseff refused to comment on a possible cabinet job for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva but said she would be proud to have him in her government.
Last week, the former president was briefly detained and questioned in a separate, federal investigation into whether extensive refurbishment on the penthouse had constituted favors in exchange for political benefit.
The renovations were carried out by one of Brazil’s biggest construction companies, OAS.
Officially the apartment belongs to OAS, which is itself accused of paying bribes to politicians and senior officials at state oil company Petrobras to secure lucrative contracts.
In addition, federal prosecutors are looking into allegations that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sold his influence in President Dilma Rousseff’s administration in exchange for donations to his Instituto Lula non-profit foundation.
Last week’s questioning of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led to criticism not only from his supporters but also from judges and politicians, who said it was unnecessary.
His supporters say the attacks on him are aimed at tarnishing his reputation, amid rumors that he may run for office again in 2018.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was Brazil’s left-leaning president from 2003 to 2011 and was succeeded in office by his political protégé, Dilma Rousseff, who has record-low approval rates amid a serious economic crisis.
A former factory worker and union leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remains a very popular figure in Brazil despite the accusations against senior members of the Workers’ Party.
Brazil’s economy shrank by 3.8% in 2015, according to the national statistics agency IBGE.
The world’s seventh-largest economy has fallen sharply in recent months due partly to low commodity prices and sluggish global growth.
Political paralysis has hampered Brazil’s efforts to tackle its economic problems, including a budget deficit that has reached 10.8% of GDP.
President Dilma Rousseff is trying to head off the opposition’s efforts to impeach her over alleged accounting irregularities, which means she cannot afford to alienate supporters in her Workers’ Party by cutting spending or raising taxes.
Investigations are also continuing into a high-level bribery and corruption scandal involving major construction projects.
Dilma Rousseff’s predecessor as president, fellow Workers’ Party politician Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is one of the people under investigation.
Brazil’s economic performance in 2015 vies with that of Russia as the worst in a major economy for 2015. Official figures for Russia’s 2015 GDP have not yet been released.
It was also Brazil’s worst set of figures since 1990.
Analysts say Brazil is now caught in a classic case of stagflation – a combination of high inflation and a recession.
On March 2, policymakers at Brazil’s central bank voted to keep the benchmark Selic interest rate at its current level of 14.25%.
High interest rates have traditionally been used in Brazil as a policy tool to keep inflation in check. However, inflation has surged in any case, now standing at 11%, while high rates are hurting businesses.
Brazil’s Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has resigned as Latin America’s largest economy struggles to recover from recession.
Joaquim Levy has decided to leave after disagreements with President Dilma Rousseff and the governing Worker’s Party over his austerity policies.
He is being replaced by a close ally of Dilma Rousseff, the current Planning Minister Nelson Barbosa.
Brazil is facing its worst recession in 25 years.
In a statement, Joaquim Levy said he remained confident that the economy could recover in 2016.
“Time will show that we will reap the results of all that has been done this year, putting the Brazilian economy back on track,” he wrote.
Brazil’s economy shrank by 1.7% in Q3 of 2015 compared with Q2. Compared with a year ago, the economy is 4.5% smaller.
Inflation is also on the rise, with the annual rate hitting 10% in November 2015.
Joaquim Levy’s resignation is a huge blow to those who advocated tougher budgets and limited austerity to tackle Brazil’s deepening economic crisis.
His attempts to tighten government budgets were repeatedly blocked by Worker’s Party stalwarts in Congress.
The new minister says he will keep a tight control on public spending.
Nelson Barbosa: “If we control government spending we will manage to control public debt and we will eventually be able to reduce public debt.”
Inflation is expected to begin falling next year, he added.
Photo Forbes
President Dilma Rousseff gave no reason for Joaquim Levy’s departure.
The change comes amid a serious political crisis in Brazil.
Earlier this month the Speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, agreed to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff over alleged irregularities in the management of last year’s budget.
On December 18, however, the Supreme Court handed Dilma Rousseff an important victory.
It scrapped a commission set up to deal with impeachment proceedings against the president, in a major setback for the opposition.
The court also gave more powers to the government-controlled Senate to block the impeachment process.
The ruling means that proceedings initiated earlier this month will have to start from scratch.
Brazil’s lower house of Congress has opened impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff.
The process is based on allegations Dilma Rousseff broke the law in managing 2014 budget, President of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha said.
Despite re-election in 2014, Dilma Rousseff’s popularity has slumped amid a corruption scandal involving the state-owned oil giant, Petrobras.
“I was outraged by the decision,” the president said in a televised speech.
“I haven’t committed any wrongful act,” she added.
Dilma Rousseff, who earlier called an emergency cabinet meeting, said she was confident that the impeachment motion would be rejected.
Two-thirds of the lower house must approve the process for it to proceed.
The governing coalition has a majority in the lower house of Congress.
The defeated opposition candidate in last year’s presidential election, Senator Aecio Neves, has tweeted that he supports the impeachment request.
“Everyone in the country must obey the law, especially the president,” he wrote.
Eduardo Cunha is himself facing corruption allegations, which he denies.
He has been accused of lying about a secret bank account in Switzerland.
An ethics committee is voting on whether to authorize action to eject him from his post of speaker.
Eduardo Cunha had been threatening to open impeachment proceedings if the governing party did not offer him backing.
His decision was “purely technical”, he said.
“It was a difficult decision. I did not become speaker of the Chamber of Deputies aiming to approve impeachment proceedings against the president,” said Eduardo Cunha.
The impeachment request had been filed by a distinguished jurist, Helio Bicudo, and some opposition members.
The document blames the government for the corruption scandal at Petrobras and says Dilma Rousseff violated Brazil’s fiscal responsibility laws.
In October an audit court ruled that Dilma Rousseff had borrowed money illegally from state banks to make up for budget shortfalls.
On December 1, the economy minister announced that Brazil’s economy shrank by 1.7% in the Q3 of 2015 compared with the second quarter, deepening the country’s worst recession in 25 years.
Compared with a year ago, the economy is 4.5% smaller.
The corruption scandal at Petrobras was partly to blame for the downturn, said Economy Minister Joaquim Levy.
Brazil’s recession has deepened as the country’s economy shrank by 1.7% in Q3 of 2015 compared with the previous quarter.
The country’s GDP dropped 4.5% on an annual basis as investments fell 15%.
Brazil’s unpopular President Dilma Rousseff has been trying to cut spending and raise taxes and this new fall in economic activity will make the latter harder.
Dilma Rousseff’s government is also entangled in a massive corruption scandal.
The drop in economic activity was largely due to a drop in investment, which fell by 15% compared with a year ago.
That has been falling for nine quarters in a row.
Unemployment is at a six-year high and inflation is running at 10%, meaning household spending is being squeezed.
Brazil’s credit rating was cut to junk in September because of mounting political turmoil and the difficulties faced by Dilma Rousseff’s government in tackling growing debt.
The rating means most of the world’s major investors cannot lend to Brazil.
In September, the Brazilian government announced a $7 billion package of spending cuts aimed at plugging the huge black hole in the country’s 2016 budget.
Dilma Rousseff’s public approval rating has hit record lows.
Brazil’s economy has been depressed by the end of the global commodities boom, while a corruption scandal centered on state oil giant Petrobras has damaged investor confidence.
Standard & Poor’s has cut Brazil’s sovereign debt rating to “junk” status.
As a result, Brazil has lost its investment-grade rating.
S&P said mounting political turmoil and the difficulties faced by President Dilma Rousseff’s government in tackling growing debt were behind the decision.
Brazil was awarded an investment-grade rating by S&P in April 2008, when the country’s economy was on the rise.
However, sliding commodity prices and austerity have created a recession.
Dilma Rousseff’s left-wing government had imposed austerity measures in a bid to avoid such a downgrade.
S&P downgraded Brazil – Latin America’s largest economy – sooner than had been expected.
The move – a major setback for Finance Minister Joaquim Levy’s attempts to shore up public finances – is likely to rock the Brazilian stock market on Thursday.
S&P cut Brazil’s rating from BBB-minus to BB-plus, which denotes substantial credit risk.
The outlook on the new rating remains negative, which means further downgrades could soon follow.
Brazil’s government said last month that that the economy was officially in recession.
S&P said: “The political challenges Brazil faces have continued to mount, weighing on the government’s ability and willingness to submit a 2016 budget to Congress.
“The negative outlook reflects what we believe is a greater than one-in-three likelihood of a further downgrade due to a further deterioration of Brazil’s fiscal position.”
Planning Minister Nelson Barbosa said Brazil would recover its investment-grade status when the economy returned to growth.
He said the government was working on new proposals to balance its accounts and revising programs to tackle the budget deficit.
“Brazil will continue to honor all its obligations,” Nelson Barbosa said.
Brazil’s economy has entered recession after official figures showed it contracted by 1.9% between in Q2 2015 compared with the previous three months.
Analysts had expected a contraction, but the number was worse than expected.
Q1 2015 output was also revised down to show a 0.7%, rather than a 0.2%, contraction.
Brazil, the seventh-largest economy in the world, has seen economic growth fall sharply in recent times.
This is due in part to low commodity prices and sluggish global growth.
High interest rates – currently 14.25% – have also affected consumer spending, an important element of Brazil’s economy, while this year, the government has introduced stringent austerity measures designed to tackle high levels of debt.
Government spending, including on unemployment benefits, has fallen sharply, while taxes have risen.
In Q2 2015, household spending fell by 2.1% compared with the previous three months. The biggest falls came in the industrial sector, where construction output fell 8.4%
Transport, storage, postal services, financial services and insurance all saw falls in output.
Compared with a year earlier, Brazil’s economy as a whole shrank by 2.6%.
The technical definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Mass protests have been held across Brazil with demonstrators calling for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.
Support for Dilma Rousseff has fallen to single-digit figures in recent polls.
Many voters have accused her of failing to stamp out corruption and blame her for the economy’s worst slump in 25 years.
Marchers Hundreds of thousands of people took over Copacabana beach in Rio and also demonstrated outside congress in the capital Brasilia.
Many wore the yellow shirts of the Brazilian football team, and sang the national anthem, carrying banners saying “Dilma Out”.
About 350,000 people took part in protests in Sao Paulo, police say.
Another 25,000 people took part in a demonstration in the capital, Brasilia.
The national day of action is the third major protest against Dilma Rousseff and her left-wing Workers’ Part this year. Hundreds of thousands took part in demonstrations in March and April.
Dilma Rousseff is less than a year into her second term as president.
There have also been demonstrations in recent months showing support for the president, with many claiming calls for her impeachment amount to a coup attempt.
Anti-government protesters say Dilma Rouseff must have known about a corruption scandal in the state oil firm, Petrobras, as alleged bribery took place when she was head of the company.
Dilma Rouseff was exonerated in an investigation by the attorney general and denies involvement. However, several senior members of her government have been implicated.
Government austerity measures are also hugely unpopular with the electorate, correspondents say, as are rising unemployment and inflation rates.
A survey by the Brazilian company Datafolha showed support for Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment was strongest in the poorest areas, which backed her in the last election.
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