Rio tent camp offers glimpse of Brazil's anger

A tent camp set up by protesters outside the Rio de Janeiro governor's residence in this well-heeled seaside neighbourhood provides a window onto the turmoil that has rocked Brazil.

Riot police argue with demonstrators during a protest in Salvador.
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RIO DE JANEIRO // A tent camp set up by protesters outside the Rio de Janeiro governor's residence in this well-heeled seaside neighbourhood provides a window onto the turmoil that has rocked Brazil.

Here property prices have shot up to more than Dh40,000 per square metre, in a country where the minimum wage is just Dh1,200 a month, and dozens of youths who might have been off watching the Confederations Cup are venting their anger at the government.

These are some of the hundreds of thousands of Brazilians who have taken to the streets in recent days in nationwide mass protests, and they show no sign of going home after president Dilma Rousseff's conciliatory speech on Friday.

The protests were triggered by a hike in transit fares but have grown to encompass everything from high-level government corruption to the billions of dollars spent on the Confederations Cup and next year's World Cup.

"We will no longer accept corruption," said Silvina Farinatti, a protester. "Why aren't wrongdoers in jail?"

Brazil has sought to tackle widespread corruption by bringing to trial politicians suspected of involvement in a vote-buying scandal during the administration of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

But Ms Rousseff, the one-time protégé to the wildly popular Mr Lula, admitted on Friday that the country must do more to crack down on corruption and improve its shoddy public services.

The protesters at the Rio tent camp appeared far from convinced. On Saturday a person in a neoprene surfing suit open to the waist held a sign reading: "If you're not corrupt, toot your horn." Dozens of cars and buses responded.

The protests have evoked comparisons with the Occupy movement in the United States and the housing protests in Israel in 2011, with young activists organising via social media to express anger at rising inequality.

There was no violence at the Rio tent camp, as a dozen police looked on after closing off access to the governor's house, but many protesters said they still feel they are being ignored.

"Dilma speaks as if she were already on the electoral stump: promises, promises, promises. Do the people have to destroy public property for them to realise that we need things to change?" said Vinicius Fragoso, 20, an actor.

The youngest person at the tent camp was just nine months old, with cheeks painted in the national colours of yellow and green.

"We want an end to the thieving" by the political class. "We want political reform, a better future for our children," said the child's mother, Celia Pereira, 35, who lives near the governor.

"This is democracy, the people must protest. There is so much corruption and total impunity. Everything is overpriced," Eduardo Amaral, 65, said.

"Let's see if the governor is listening."

* Agence France-Presse