Brazil to deploy troops in five cities to quell protest

Zee Media Bureau

Sao Paulo: Brazilian Army soldiers are reportedly being deployed to suppress the wave of protests demanding better public services that has led to the unrest in the country over the past week. The soldiers are being dispatched to Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Ceara and Brasilia, as per a BBC report. Around 50,000 protestors demonstrated against the government calling it corrupt and inefficient after it allegedly ignored the demands of middle-class. The protests were well-organized via social media and mostly peaceful, like those the night before that drew 240,000 to the streets in several cities to demonstrate against the shoddy state of public transit, schools and other public services in this booming South American giant. Many railed against a gap between Brazil`s heavy tax burden and its notoriously poor infrastructure. Demonstrations have ballooned from initial protests last week called by a group complaining about the high cost of a woeful public transport system and demanding a rollback of a 10-cent hike in bus and subway fares. While the protests have grown, reversing that fare hike remains the one concrete demand emanating from the streets. The rest, so far, are expressions of deep anger and discontentment — not just with the ruling government, but with the entire governing system. Many protesting in Brazil`s streets hail from the country`s growing middle class, which government figures show has ballooned by some 40 million over the past decade amid a commodities-driven economic boom. They say they`ve lost patience with endemic problems such as government corruption and inefficiency. They`re also slamming Brazil`s government for spending billions of dollars to host next year`s World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics, while leaving other needs unmet. (With Agency Inputs)