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Brazilians rally as Rousseff faces judgment day

Thursday, 25 August 2016 8:16 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 25 August 2016 10:05 AM ]

People protest against Brazil's interim president Michel Temer at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 12, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Hundreds of Brazilians have staged a demonstration in the country’s capital to show support for suspended president, Dilma Rousseff, whose impeachment trial begins on Thursday.

The protesters held banners and placards reading "Oust Temer," and "We don't recognize a false cabinet," in reference to Brazilian interim president Michel Temer and his administration.

Rousseff faces charges of illegally manipulating finances to hide a growing public deficit ahead of her re-election in 2014.

The first Brazilian woman president has accused her opponents of trumping up the charges against her to remove her in a “coup.”

The impeachment trial of the suspended president, which is to begin on Thursday, is expected to last for several days.

Rousseff was among the attendees in the Wednesday rally, telling her supporters that she would fight and resist the impeachment to the end.

"I committed no crime. To stop this happening again, I must go to the Senate to defend Brazil's democracy, the political views that I advocate and the legitimate rights of the Brazilian people," she said.

According to a poll published by the Brazilian daily, O Globo, 51 senators were committed to voting to dismiss Rousseff while only 19 members were supporting her.

A two-thirds majority of the Senate, or 54 votes, would be needed to see her permanently removed from office.

Dilma Rousseff (L) and Michel Temer (file photo by AFP)

The Brazilian Senate voted a week ago to hold an impeachment trial for Rousseff.

She will be given time to take a stand and defend herself on August 29, said the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Ricardo Lewandowski, who will preside over the trial.

If the trial acquits Rousseff, she will be allowed to serve out her term until 2018. But if it removes her permanently, then Temer will become the full-fledged president until the next election in 2018.

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

The embattled leader has denied the allegations and repeatedly asserted that she has fallen victim to a plot by the extreme right.

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