Anti-Impeachment Minority Builds Roadblocks, Burns Tires in Brazil

PHOTOS: Anti-Impeachment Minority Builds Roadblocks, Burns Tires in Brazil

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by FRANCES MARTEL12 May 2016

The Senate of Brazil has temporarily deposed President Dilma Rousseff, replacing her for 180 days with her vice president until her impeachment trial concludes.

While millions of Brazilians peacefully took to the streets demanding impeachment before the process began, protests this week in favor of Rousseff grew violent, targeting journalists and police and causing severe traffic delays in major cities.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, a coalition of leftist groups including the Movement of Landless Workers, the Brazil Popular Front, and supporters of Rousseff’s socialist Workers’ Party (PT) closed major streets in states like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Pernambuco, with both human bodies blocking the way and fires designed to block traffic. O Globo reports that socialist protesters blocked traffic in 17 of the nation’s states. Three journalist organizations – the Radio Broadcasters Association, the Brazilian Television (Abert), and the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ) – issued a statement condemning “acts of violence and intimidation against reporters” at these protests.

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