RID DE JANEIRO — Brazilians marched in cities across the country on Sunday, protesting against corrupt politicians and fears that Congress will try to scupper a huge anti-graft probe.
Dressed overwhelmingly in the green and yellow national colors and waving the Brazilian flag, thousands of demonstrators massed on a beachside avenue in Rio’s posh Copacabana and outside Congress in the capital Brasilia.
The biggest gathering was in the center of the financial powerhouse Sao Paulo, where police put the crowd at 15,000.
The peaceful protests expressed support for Operation Car Wash, a probe that has uncovered mass embezzlement by politicians and top executives at the state oil company Petrobras and other businesses.
“Car Wash — protected by the people,” read a placard in Rio carried by a man wrapped in the Brazilian flag.
Demonstrators were furious over a vote earlier this week by the lower house of Congress — where many deputies are themselves suspects in criminal probes — to weaken a long-planned anti-corruption bill, and over the intimidation of judges and prosecutors.
The vote, which took place while most Brazilians slept during the early hours of Wednesday, prompted prosecutors from the Car Wash case to threaten resignation.
In Rio, protesters lauded Sergio Moro, the judge heading Car Wash cases, chanting: “Moro, fighter for the Brazilian people!“
“We trust in Moro,” read placards in Sao Paulo.
Latin America’s biggest country has been in turmoil all year.
Car Wash revelations have already brought down major political and business figures, the economy is in its worst recession in decades, and the leftist president Dilma Rousseff was impeached in August, replaced by center-right veteran Michel Temer, triggering nationwide tensions.
The protesters’ main target on Sunday was the powerful Senate speaker, Renan Calheiros, who made a failed bid this week to get the upper house to quickly confirm the lower chamber’s controversial corruption bill. — AFP
