Brazilians demonstrate in support of corruption crackdown

World Today

On Sunday, protesters rallied across major cities in Brazil in support of a crackdown on corruption–putting pressure on the government of Michel Temer who took office after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.

On Sunday, protesters rallied across major cities in Brazil in support of a crackdown on corruption–putting pressure on the government of Michel Temer who took office after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.

The 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 said 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,” Rogerio Chequer, the leader of Vem Pra Rua movement said.

CCTV America’s Paulo Cabral reports the story.

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.

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.