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29 August, 1999The "March of the 100,000" converges on Brazil's capital to protest the president's free market policies and economic austerity.
BRAZIL: In the largest demonstration yet against the five-year government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, approximately 100,000 people from all over the country, representing trade unions, other organisations and opposition political parties, marched on the Congress building in Brasília on August 26.
In particular, the marchers were protesting the president's free market policies and economic austerity plans and demanding the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate irregularities in the privatisation process of the telecommunications group Telebrás.
If the alleged irregularities are proved to be correct, a procedure to impeach the president will be demanded. Some of the marchers were asking for his immediate resignation.
This latest mass demonstration follows earlier ones this summer, one organised in July by thousands of truck drivers who blockaded all main cities in the country in protest at the rising cost of fuel and the high tolls on privatised roads. And, more recently, farmers and landowners, who are demanding a write-off of US$9 billion of debt, continue to camp out in Brasília in order to put pressure on the government.
In particular, the marchers were protesting the president's free market policies and economic austerity plans and demanding the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate irregularities in the privatisation process of the telecommunications group Telebrás.
If the alleged irregularities are proved to be correct, a procedure to impeach the president will be demanded. Some of the marchers were asking for his immediate resignation.
This latest mass demonstration follows earlier ones this summer, one organised in July by thousands of truck drivers who blockaded all main cities in the country in protest at the rising cost of fuel and the high tolls on privatised roads. And, more recently, farmers and landowners, who are demanding a write-off of US$9 billion of debt, continue to camp out in Brasília in order to put pressure on the government.