On Monday, a group of protesters came together in front of Rio’s Linx Hotel, where 22 out of the 23 players on Brazil’s squad were supposed to meet with Scolari. Due to recent Champions League victory, Marcelo was given an extra day of rest.
The abovementioned slogan transcribed on a sign
The demonstrators, mostly teachers, began protesting on May 12, and demand better pay and working conditions. The workers cannot idly watch their government splurge millions of dollars on a 4 week event, while the population is starving to death.
Just last year World Cup protests peaked in Brazil when 100000 people took the streets of Rio
At the training grounds, together with the journalists and the fans, hundreds of more protesters were waiting for the team.
Fans attaching stickers on the bus driving the Selecao to their training ground
Protesters kept slowing down Brazil's bus on the way to Granja Comary
Just like with Australia's Aborigines during the Olympics, or the township dwellers in South Africa in 2010, it seems that competitions like the World Cup come at a price that is much higher than what should be tolerated.
Demonstrators stand in front of the building site for a stadium in Brazil