Brazil Takes To The Streets, Protesters Call For Impeachment For President Rousseff

Thousands of protesters are taking to the streets throughout Brazil calling for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Although the people are rallying against a corruption scandal at the state-run oil company Petrobras, some political polarization is also partially at work.

CNN reports that in Sao Paulo, Brazil, masses of protesters dressed in green and yellow are shouting “Out with Dilma” and “Time for change.” They used rallying cries and sang rock songs dating back to when Brazil was under the rule of a military dictatorship.

According to CNN, at the center of the discontent is a multi-million dollar bribery scandal involving Petrobras. The state-owned oil giant is one of the largest companies in the world by market capitalization. Last year, authorities began investigating allegations that construction companies paid bribes to executives and politicians in exchange for contracts.

The scandal isn’t the only factor in the impeachment. The Huffington Post reports that economic mismanagement and the rapidly depreciating currency are other issues.

A poll carried out by the Datafolha polling agency showed 63 percent of respondents support impeachment hearings against President Dilma Rousseff, with 33 percent opposing impeachment.

Likewise, 60 percent of respondents gave Rousseff a bad or terrible rating in her performance, with only 13 percent saying her performance was good or great.

Although most protesters are calling for a peaceful impeachment, some are saying the president should be removed by force.

Despite the massive support for impeachment, Carlos Lopes, a political risk analyst in Brazil, said the protests risk dying out if they cannot maintain momentum.

“Sunday’s demonstration faces a big problem, which is one of comparison. If it doesn’t (match the size of the March 15 protests), people will be less inclined take part in future demonstrations and the movement toward large-scale rallies will begin to fizzle out.”

President Dilma Rousseff has maintained that she knew nothing about the bribes, despite being the chairwoman of Petrobras’ board during many of the years the corruption allegedly took place. Her supporters claim the position is simply a figurehead with little actual responsibility.

Legal experts also claim that President Dilma Rousseff could only be impeached if the crimes could be linked to her second term in office, which only began in January (she won with just over 50 percent of the vote along ideological lines).

Rousseff’s Worker’s Party has fought back to some extent. They’ve tried to paint the opposition protesters as hard-line right-wingers. The pro-Rousseff groups have also organized their own protests in Brazil in a bid to stave off impeachment.

[Image Credit: Getty Images]