Unions from around Brazil went on a general strike Thursday afternoon demanding the removal of coup-imposed President Michel Temer and his party's neoliberal austerity measures.
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Protesters included several trade union groups, the Brazil Popular Front and People Without Fear front who were centered in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, and have been rallying with the slogan “No Right to Less” and “Fora Temer” (Out with Temer).
Workers from the transportation, education, health, bank and education sectors came together to oppose Temer's austerity measures which the union says will remove basic protections for Brazilian workers and exacerbate poverty and inequality.
Unions that turned out included the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores, CUT, Força Sindical, the General Union of Workers, UGT, the New Central Trade Union of the workers, NCST, and the Intersindical and Central Workers Organization of Brazil, CTTB.
“We need to stop Brazil to give a demonstration of the extent that the people oppose the illegitimate and putschist government,” union organizers said.
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In Minas Gerais' capital, Belo Horizonte, a number of protesters were planned with a number of other cities across the country also planning demonstrations. Videos posted on social media also showed a number of youth demonstrators from UBES in Sao Paulo’s commercial district.
Temer’s government currently has a very low approval rating and the Brazil Popular Front and People Without Fear Front have been mounting a number of demonstrations around Brazil in opposition to the interim government and the ousting of former President Dilma Rousseff, which many have described as a parliamentary coup.
Temer is due to complete Rousseff’s presidential term until the 2018 election. Temer’s government is also pursuing corruption accusations against Rousseff´s predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, who is growing in popularity to take back the presidency.