Protesters rallied across major cities in Brazil on Sunday in support of a crackdown on corruption -- putting pressure on the government of Michel Temer who took office after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.
These are political protests in Brazil that have been called by the same right-leaning activist groups that pressured for the removal of the leftist Workers’ Party president, Dilma Rousseff.
But their leaders say that Rousseff was just one problem and that fighting corruption is an ongoing battle.
“They have been doing this for a long time in this country but the people woke up and will no longer allow this kind of thing to happen ever again. We are awake. Impeachment is over but the Brazilian population won’t fall asleep ever again,” said Rogerio Chequer, leader of Vem Pra Rua movement.
Brazil’s corruption investigations like the Car Wash probe into illegal dealings involving national oil company Petrobras, has already brought down and even sent to jail several top politicians and business people.
And some here believe the political establishment is trying to weaken the investigations with a recent anti-corruption bill vote by Congress that many people perceived as an effort to limit the powers of judges and public prosecutors.
The fact the bill was voted while Brazil was still in shock because of the plane crash that killed 71 people - including most players from the Chapecoense football team earlier in the week - led many to see this as an attempt to use the tragedy to divert the attention from a very unpopular measure.
“Lawmakers will do anything to keep their places in parliament because there they feel protected. So it’s not really that strange that they will hide to vote for something that will only defend their own interests,” said Andre Simon, protester.
“I want to understand what is going happening in this country! Corrupt politicians want to punish judges investigating them. We need to get these politicians to understand that the real bosses in the country are the people, not them,” said Fernando Brucolli, protester.
“We have been protesting for several months saying what we will remain for as long as necessary until we get rid of all corrupt politicians,” said Fernanda Zuin, protester.
Today’s protest was not as big as some of the major rallies demanding the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff - and it did not have the support of allies of the ousted president. But still it sends a message to the incumbent president Michel Temer who will have to deal with tough demands if he wants to see his popularity grow.
