VOA标准英语2013--Brazil President Holds Emergency Meeting Over Growing Protests（在线收听）

Brazil President Holds Emergency Meeting Over Growing Protests

More than a million protesters rallied in dozens of cities across Brazil Thursday, including at least 300,000 in Rio de Janeiro where police fired tear gas to contain the crowds. Protesters also stormed the foreign ministry in the capital, Brasilia, throwing burning objects and firecrackers into the building before being repelled by police.

Rousseff met with several government ministers to discuss how to respond to the protests, the country's biggest in two decades. She has already called off a trip to Japan planned for next week.

This week's protests were originally triggered by an increase in bus and subway fares — proposals which the government has since scrapped — but protesters have since focused on what they say is the government's neglect of public services, high taxes, and rampant corruption.

Gonzalo Abarca of VOA's Latin American Service says part of the problem is that the protests appear to be spontaneous and have no single leader.

"The government has a big, big problem. There is not a specific person that they can talk to," Abarca said. "Eighty percent of these demonstrators, according to O Globo, one of the most important newspapers, are non-partisan so there is no one single leader."

Abarca says political scandals that have erupted across Brazil have helped escalate the protests, but perhaps the key factor driving growing unrest is poverty. Many Brazilians, he says, cannot have basic needs met while the government spends lavishly in preparation for next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympic games

"It's hard for them to understand that the government is going to invest in the World Cup, billions of dollars, and they cannot even get subsidies for going to school, education, transportation," he said.

Some protests have targeted the billions being spent to host the 2016 Summer Games, along with next year's World Cup and this month's Confederations Cup. Police in Rio cordoned off the area around Maracana Stadium Thursday, worried that protesters would try to disrupt the Confederations Cup football match under way inside.

Many protesters have been undeterred by the news that Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have scrapped plans to increase public transportation fees.