{"id":47754,"date":"2013-06-13T14:15:41","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T13:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/?p=47754"},"modified":"2017-03-28T10:39:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T09:39:04","slug":"bus-fares-bring-brazilians-onto-the-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/?p=47754","title":{"rendered":"Brazilians take to the streets to protest bus fare increases"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent weeks Brazil has seen something unusual \u2013 large demonstrations on the streets of S\u00e3o Paulo<\/a> and Rio de Janeiro<\/a>. Rafael Spuldar reports on the rise in bus fares that is prompting the protests<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:

Photo: Jimmy Trindade<\/a> via Facebook<\/p><\/div>\n

So far this month there have been three major demonstrations in S\u00e3o Paulo and two in Rio. The national movement is coordinated by Movimento Passe Livre<\/i><\/a> , or Free Pass Movement, which is comprised of groups linked to student organizations and leftist parties.<\/p>\n

Bus fares increased on 1 June in both cities, jumping from 3 BRL ($1.42) to 3,20 BRL ($1.50) in S\u00e3o Paulo and from 2,75 ($1.30) to 2,95 ($1.40) in Rio. That\u2019s a tough sell in Brazil where the monthly minimum wage of 700 BRL means that a low-wage worker in S\u00e3o Paulo could end up spending a third of their income on transportation.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, as many as 12,000 people marched from S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Paulista Avenue<\/a> area – considered to be the financial heart of South America’s richest city – to the city centre and back. Bus stops and subway stations were smashed during the protest. Riot police fired stun grenades and used tear gas against the protesters.<\/p>\n

Some of the demonstrators posted photos<\/a> and videos<\/a> on social media denouncing police abuse. They were also critical of media reporting about the events, saying they are portrayed merely as vandals.<\/p>\n

Twenty people were taken into custody during the demonstrations. One of them was reporter Leandro Machado from Folha de S.Paulo<\/i><\/a>, Brazil’s biggest daily newspaper. Machado says he was taken by the police<\/a> \u2013 along with a photographer \u2013 simply for reporting the arrest of a protester.<\/p>\n

Journalist Pedro Nogueira from Portal Aprendiz<\/i><\/a> \u2013 an education website \u2013 was also arrested while reporting on the protest. Nogueira says he was detained and beaten by the police<\/a> while trying to help two friends, who were also attacked by policemen. A video posted on YouTube<\/a> allegedly shows the incident.<\/p>\n

In Rio, the latest demonstration took place on Monday evening. Riot police used mace and stun grenades against the protestors after they blocked Avenida Brasil<\/a>, one of Rio\u2019s main avenues. More than 30 people were taken in custody, many of them young. As in S\u00e3o Paulo, demonstrators used social media to post videos<\/a> denouncing police excesses against participants.<\/p>\n

Protests against bus fares, as well as clashes between demonstrators and the police, took place in other Brazilian capitals like Goi\u00e2nia<\/a> and Natal<\/a>. In Goi\u00e2nia, the fare rise was reversed by a court ruling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Violent protests are not a common event in Brazil’s biggest urban areas. In recent days, social media users seem to be divided between supporters and those who denounce the protesters as vandals who damage public property and disrupt traffic.<\/p>\n

The latest demonstrations follow successful movements that sought to roll back fare increases in late March in Porto Alegre<\/a> \u2013 capital of southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. There the mayor revoked the rise.<\/p>\n

At this week\u2019s protests, demonstrators could be heard \u00a0chanting \u201cvamos repetir Porto Alegre<\/i><\/a>\u201d (\u201clet\u2019s repeat Porto Alegre\u201d) in S\u00e3o Paulo and Rio.<\/p>\n

Rafael Spuldar is a\u00a0S\u00e3o Paulo-based writer and editor. Follow him on Twitter @spuldar<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent weeks Brazil has seen something unusual \u2013 large demonstrations on the streets of S\u00e3o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Rafael Spuldar<\/strong> reports on the rise in bus fares that is prompting the protests<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":47765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[744],"tags":[7396,5245],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47754"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47754"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88403,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47754\/revisions\/88403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}