First Protestor Dies in Brazil anti-World Cup Demos

The protests in Brazil against transport fare rises, government excess and the costs of hosting the 2014 World Cup have their first fatality.

Delefrate Marcos, an 18-year-old man died in Sao Paulo when a car drove through a barricade according to the BBC

Last night, over a million Brazilians across the nation demonstrated against Government with several grievances, among them the cost to the Brazilian people of next year’s FIFA World Cup due to be held in Brazil. The protests are designed to coincide with the Confederations Cup, a football tournament held the year before the World Cup finals in the same country.

The national President Dilma Rousseff called off a planned trip to Japan to deal with the increasing crisis which is threatening public order as well as the 2014 World Cup itself. Clashes were reported near the Salvador Stadium where Uruguay beat Nigeria 2-1.

Local newspaper, Folha de Sao Paolo estimated the protestors at over 1 million people across the nation with at least 300,000 in Rio.

Tear gas and rubber bullets were used against masked demonstrators in the worst instances and Rio shopkeepers put boards up to prevent looting.

The scale of the demonstrations is a serious headache both for the Brazilian Government and for FIFA, despite President Sepp Blatter’s stereotypically tone deaf response to the situation.

“Brazil asked to host the World Cup,” Blatter told Brazilian newspaper O Globo

“They knew that to host a good World Cup they would naturally have to build stadiums. But we said that it was not just for the World Cup. Together with the stadiums there are other constructions: highways, hotels, airports … Items that are for the future. Not just for the World Cup.”

He and President Rousseff were booed by the crowd at the opening ceremony of the Confederations Cup on Saturday.

Three more people were injured in the same incident as killed the teenager in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo state.

One media report claimed that according to witnesses, the car tried to break through a human chain created by protesters and was angered when his car was blocked. He then accelerated the vehicle and ran over the four protestors. Three people were taken to hospital with fractures but Marcos dies at the scene.

Hospital officials in Rio say 55 people were admitted to the city’s Souza Aguiar infirmary following clashes.

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