Photo: CUT.
About 1 million people across Brazil protested on August 20 against right-wing attempts to impeach President Dilma Rousseff.
The marches were joined by Brazil's big social movements, including the Movement of Landless Workers (MST) and the United Workers' Central (CUT), the largest trade union federation in Latin America.
Organisers made it clear that the marches were in support of democracy and against growing impeachment calls from the country’s right wing. Political parties, including the left-wing opposition Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), joined the march.
O Globo newspaper said at least 876,000 people took part in the demonstrations across the country. A common theme in the marches was rejection of finance minister Joaquim Levy, a former International Monetary Fund economist, who has pushed austerity policies cutting social programs.
Speakers and marchers also targeted Eduardo Cunha, the head of Congress and former government ally who has been leading calls for impeachment.
Cunha was officially charged by the attorney-general's office on August 20 for money laundering and corruption. The lawmaker allegedly received US$5 million from the Petrobras fraud scheme. Cunha, who was under investigation, had claimed the accusations against him were politically motivated and broken off his party's alliance with the government.
[Abridged from TeleSUR English.]
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