News / Brazil

Brazilians rally in Sao Paulo to support President Rousseff

Wednesday, 27 April 2016 7:07 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 27 April 2016 7:04 AM ]

People protest in support of President Dilma Rousseff in Sao Paulo, Brazil on April 26, 2016. ©AFP

Hundreds of people have rallied in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo to show their support for President Dilma Rousseff in her ongoing impeachment battle.

The demonstration was held at Ramos Square on Tuesday, with protesters, mostly women, playing musical instruments.

They also held banners denouncing vice President Michel Temer, who seeks to replace Rousseff, and President of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha.

The demonstration came in response to an article in a Brazilian magazine that said Temer’s wife, Marcela, is “beautiful, maiden-like and ‘a housewife.’”

People protest in support of President Dilma Rousseff in Sao Paulo, Brazil on April 26, 2016.

Protesters said the article showed that media is a male-dominated industry in Brazil.

One protester said that the demonstration was organized to “say no to the coup, no to this chauvinist media that is trying to impose norms of conduct and beauty on us. We are here to defend democracy."

On April 17, two-thirds of the 513 delegates in Brazil's lower chamber of Congress voted in favor of impeaching Rousseff, based on allegations that she manipulated fiscal rules in the lead-up to her 2014 reelection.

Brazil’s Senate is expected to vote by no later than May 17 on whether to hold an impeachment trial for the president.

If the Senate votes to accept the case, Temer will become Brazil’s acting president for a maximum of 180 days until a final verdict is reached.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff speaks during a press conference at Planalto Palace in Brasilia on April 18, 2016. ©AFP

Also on Tuesday, the Senate appointed a president for its 21-member special commission formed to assess the impeachment case.

Rousseff once again denied the allegations in a speech in the city of Salvador, saying that there were no grounds for the case and those pushing for her impeachment were corrupt.

"There is no accusation against me. And the strangest thing of all is that those who are passing judgement on me are corrupt," she said.

"That person, who is the president of the lower house- everyone in Brazil knows he has accounts abroad, and has been accused by the Prosecutor General," Rousseff added, referring to Cunha.

She is also under fire over a graft scandal at the state oil company Petrobras, where she was the manager before taking office as president in 2010.

Rousseff further angered the opposition recently after giving a top cabinet position to her predecessor and ally Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is himself implicated in the corruption case.

Opponents say the move is aimed at granting him immunity from prosecution. However, Rousseff has denied the allegations against her as politically-motivated.

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