Brazilians 'feel deceived'
2005-09-07 13:01
Sao Paulo - Thousands of anti-corruption demonstrators rallied in Brazil's largest city on Tuesday, demanding harsh punishment for politicians caught up in a bribery scandal shaking the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Protesters, including unionists, students and businessmen, braved heavy rains to vent their rage against members of the ruling Workers Party accused of paying allied lawmakers monthly bribes for votes in Congress and illicit campaign financing.
Many demonstrators said 19 legislators from six political parties linked to the corruption scandal should get jail time, and others doubted Silva's repeated denial that he knew nothing of the scheme allegedly orchestrated by his party.
'No crime should go unpunished'
Brazilians want "all these crimes uncovered and the criminals tried and severely punished", Luis Flavio Durso, president of Brazil's Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers, said to cheers as he addressed the crowd from a truck normally used in Carnival parades.
In a jab at Silva's much-praised "Zero Hunger" campaign aiming to lift millions out of misery, organisers dubbed their march "Zero Corruption". Hundreds of protesters donned round, red clown noses to ridicule politicians, and some dressed up in black-and-white striped outfits.
Organisers said 15 000 people marched through the heart of Sao Paulo after gathering at the Praca de Se, a vast plaza where Silva gave a fiery 1984 speech to 250 000 people when he was a radical union leader - a watershed event leading to the end of Brazil's 1964 to 1985 military dictatorship. Police said Tuesday's protest drew 6 000 people.
Waving a banner saying, "A thief is a thief, friend or not," Evandro Silva said he voted for the president, known popularly as Lula, in the 2002 election, but he said he would not next year if the corruption scandal still reverberated through Brazil.
"I don't think Lula knew about this, but I feel deceived by all the people who were working for him," said Silva, who belongs to the 18 000-member Sao Paulo union of auto tire repair workers.
Demanding the truth
Middle-aged women in black T-shirts identifying themselves as "Women for the Truth" were divided over whether the president knew about the corruption. But they said his Workers Party will never regain its image as a bastion of ethics in a country where most political parties are assumed to be crooked.
"We just want the truth, and we want to end this corruption and bring back ethics," Maria de Lourdes Wolff said.
The president said in a Monday speech that Brazil's economy and political institutions remain strong despite three months of ever-escalating corruption allegations that sent periodic shock waves through financial markets.
- AP