AFP/Brasilia


Tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets yesterday, venting anger over government corruption and economic drift just one month after widespread protests drew more than a million people.
By early afternoon, organisers said some 190,000 people across the country had answered the call to protest, driven in large part by the widening scandal at state-owned oil giant Petrobras.
Protesters also expressed their displeasure over rising inflation and soaring utility bills.
Those pocket-book issues—as well as the perceived erosion of workers’ rights—have fueled growing opposition to leftist President Dilma Rousseff, re-elected just last October.
Turnout across the nation included some 25,000 in the capital Brasilia, although police put the overall figure at nearer 100,000, media conglomerate Globo reported on its website.
Organisers had hoped more than 1mn people would attend marches held in some 400 cities.
Rio hosted two modest protests at the tourist magnet of Copacabana beach, where media put participants at some 10,000, while another march was scheduled for early afternoon in business hub Sao Paulo.
“We have come to show what is going on in Brazil - this government is doing nothing. The people must show their dissatisfaction,” Dianara Loubet, a 75-year-old yoga instructor, said as marchers converged on the capital Brasilia, where some protesters hung a banner calling for the army to intervene.
“Dilma out” and “corrupt government” were just two slogans borne on giant banners held aloft by marchers.
Many protesters wore the canary yellow of the Brazilian soccer team as they called for Rousseff to be impeached—though most commentators believe that is unlikely to happen.   
Similar protests on March 15 brought out more than 1.7mn people according to police, although polling organisation Datafolha questioned what it deemed inflated figures in Sao Paulo.
Although yesterday’s numbers appeared modest, organisers said it was not the size of rallies that counts, but the message.
“We don’t have an estimate for how many people there are. We want all Brazil to come out into the streets (but) we are not here to break records,” said Rizzia Arreiro, a 35-year-old Rio protester from the Vem Pra Rua (take to the streets) protest group.
“The main objective is to get Rousseff’s dismissal or resignation,” Fabio Ostermann, an opposition leader organising the rally, said on Saturday.
Public confidence in Brazil’s political class has slumped with the detention or questioning of dozens of lawmakers and officials, including the treasurer of the ruling Workers Party over an alleged multi-billion dollar kickback scheme at Petrobras.
Thomaz Albuquerque, a 38-year-old attending a Copacabana rally, said there were “political and legal reasons to call for Dilma’s impeachment.”
“She was the president of the Petrobras board during the worst phase of the ‘Petrolao’ graft scandal. That is reason enough” to call for her ouster, Albuquerque insisted.
Rousseff is herself not under investigation, despite her former ties to the company, but the widening probe has fingered a swathe of her party colleagues and close allies.
A Datafolha poll Saturday found 63% of a 2,800-strong sample believed Rousseff should personally be investigated but 64% believed even if she were, she would retain office.
The pollsters also found some eight in 10 Brazilians believe Rousseff knew what was going on at Petrobras, which she vehemently denies.
Rousseff’s personal ratings have crashed below 20%, not just because of the Petrobras affair but also as a result of a staggering economy after four years of anemic growth.
Fitch Ratings lowered the country’s investment grade to negative last week and inflation has climbed to 8.13%  - almost double the government’s central target.
Rousseff has responded with budget cuts, but promised to protect welfare programmes that are the foundation of support for her party.