One hurt at Rio protest near Maracana Stadium
One person was hurt and shots were fired at a demonstration near Rio’s Maracana stadium Sunday as Argentina faced Bosnia in a World Cup encounter.
Police used pepper spray and tear gas to prevent some 250 protesters gathered near the stadium before the game from approaching the venue, which will also host the July 13 final.
Chanting “Hey FIFA, return to Switzerland,” the demonstrators, including members of the radical Black Bloc movement, clashed with the officers when they tried to break through a police barricade.
Tensions rose when a man driving by in a car fired a gun in the air and shouted at protestors to leave, an AFP journalist reported.
Some demonstrators claimed the man was a plainclothes policeman.
O Estado de Sao Paulo reported the injured person was from a local news agency, adding he was not seriously hurt.
Some protestors headed to another neighborhood where they damaged smashed the windows of three banks, according to the G1 news website.
Another protest took place in the southern city of Porto Alegre as police kept demonstrators far from the stadium where France played Honduras. No incidents were reported.
In the capital Brasilia, 300 people protested near the stadium used for the Switzerland-Ecuador game to condemn the $11 billion spent on the World Cup.
Brazil was rocked by massive protests during last year’s Confederations Cup as people angry at the World Cup cost took to the streets. Demonstrations have been smaller in recent months.
- AFP
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