Thousands of Brazilian citizens marched the streets of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janerio, demanding respect for teachers’s rights, free university education and improved conditions in state run schools. The demonstration was a part of a series of mass protests propelled by the country’s low wages, growing inflation, and inability of local and national governments to provide adequate health and education services.
The most recent protests on October 15th marked National Teacher’s Day. During the evening, approximately 2,000 people marched in Sao Paulo to remove Gov. Geraldo Alckman from office. Masked members from activist group Black Bloc joined the demonstrators and incited a violent backlash from local police authorities who used tear gas bombs and pepper spray.
Lucia Dores, 50 year old teacher in Sao Paulo said, “I’m fed up with corrupt politicians. I could write a book about all the things they’ve done.” Dores was also present at the protests and said “the police were throwing tear gas bombs for no reason. They just didn’t want people to keep moving forward. We had nowhere to run, nowhere to go. That’s why people went inside Tok & Stok [large department store broken into]. Someone saved me by giving me vinegar to get rid of the tear gas effects and then I ran out of there.”
In Rio de Janerio, about 4,000 protestors gathered in the city center in support of teachers who have been on strike for two months, requesting improved working conditions and a 37% pay increase. Similar to Sao Paulo, demonstrators and Black Bloc activists were met with police enforced tear gas and percussion grenades.
Student Karoline Santana explained “my school is abandoned, the principal does nothing and doesn’t want to do anything. Teachers have even lost faith, and those who arrive full of hope see quickly that the job of teaching doesn’t exist anymore. Even the older teachers demotivate the new ones.”
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Written by Rachel Pozivenec