Fleeting scenes of violence marked Friday’s strike against the reform of Social security. Across Brazil’s capitals, there were reports of rubber bullets shot at protestors, trampling, arrests, tear gas bombs and general hostility against the press.
In the morning, a driver ran over protesters who had closed one of Niterói’s main avenues Niterói (Rio metropolitan area). The car’s wheel ran over the leg of professor Kate Costa, 32.
In the center of Rio de Janeiro, confusion began as police officers organized in the middle of the protest. One demonstrator set off fireworks, and the PM started to launch tear gas bombs.
In São Paulo, the Military Police shot rubber bullets and threw tear gas bombs at protesters at the corner of Avenida Paulista and Consolação Street, in the central region.
Demonstrator Sandro de Lima, 44, was hit in the face by a rubber bullet while participating in a protest near the Getúlio Vargas Refinery in Araucária, a metropolitan region of Curitiba (south).
In Porto Alegre (south), transportation ran normally throughout the day with bus and train interruptions occurring only early in the morning.
In Salvador (northeast), 30 micro-buses were vandalized. There is no record of injuries.
In Recife (northeast), moments before the protest began demonstrators expelled a Globo team that was covering the protest in the center of the city.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon