Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Protest against Brazil's President Temer turns violent

Angry demonstrators in Brasilia have started a fire inside the ministry of agriculture and have damaged several other ministerial buildings.

Brazilian authorities estimate around 35,000 are marching in the capital.

Troops are being deployed to defend government buildings and there is a heavy police presence on the streets.

Protesters are demanding the resignation of President Michel Temer, fresh elections, and for economic reform plans to be withdrawn.

Mr Temer has faced new corruption allegations in the last week, and is facing growing pressure to step down.

According to reports, several ministries are being evacuated because of the protests - but not before the agriculture ministry was damaged.

"There was an invasion of the ministry's private entrance. They lit a fire in a room, broke photos in a gallery of ex-ministers and confronted police," a spokesman told the AFP news agency.

There have been clashes between police and demonstrators and local media report one person has been injured and several have been detained.

Planned demonstrations began peacefully around midday before clashes with police erupted.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas grenades during clashes

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at some demonstrators, and video footage showed other members of the crowd smashing windows or setting makeshift barriers afire.

Last week, testimony released by the country's supreme court alleged that Mr Temer had taken millions of dollars in bribes since 2010.

The plea-bargain testimony came from bosses of a giant meat-packing firm.

In response, Mr Temer vowed to prove his innocence and remain as president while so doing.

On Saturday, he filed a petition to have the investigation suspended, but reversed that decision on Tuesday.

Mr Temer took office a year ago after his predecessor, President Dilma Rousseff, was impeached. </s> BRASÍLIA: Brazilian soldiers deployed Wednesday to defend government buildings in the capital Brasilia after protesters demanding the exit of President Michel Temer smashed their way into ministries and fought with riot police.

“At this moment, federal troops are already here in (the foreign ministry),” Defense Minister Raul Jungmann said in a brief televised statement. “And next there are troops arriving to secure all the ministerial buildings.”

Jungmann said the army was ordered in by Temer, who is fighting for his political life after being placed under a corruption investigation.

The deployment of soldiers sent a psychological shockwave through a capital already shaking from the day’s violence and frantic debate over the corruption scandal threatening to bring down the president.

In the lower house of Congress, the session was temporarily suspended after leftist deputies took over the speaker’s podium, brandishing signs saying “Temer out.”

Troops are regularly used in Brazil to back up police when law and order breaks down or help at major events like last year’s Rio Olympics.

However, the issue is deeply sensitive in a country that lived under military rule from 1964-1985 and the decision to bring soldiers into the heart of the government complex spooked even Temer’s allies.

“The question of a military presence is always something that frightens us,” said Tasso Jereissati, president of the PSDB social democrats.

Violence erupted soon after the crowd, estimated by police at 35,000, marched toward the presidential palace, which is flanked by Congress and the government buildings.

Although most of the protesters were peaceful, small groups wearing masks threw stones at officers ringing the area and smashed their way into the agriculture ministry and reportedly also the culture and planning ministries. Riot police crouching behind black shields lobbed tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd, triggering running battles.

When protesters set a fire in the agriculture ministry, employees were forced to flee.

“There was an invasion of the ministry’s private entrance. They lit a fire in a room, broke photos in a gallery of ex-ministers and confronted police,” a spokesman for the ministry told AFP. “The building was evacuated.”

Jungmann said the protest had been “peaceful but descended into violence, vandalism, disrespect, attacks on state property, and threats against people.”

Organized by leftist groups and trade unions a week after he was placed under a corruption probe, the protests are calling for Temer’s resignation.

Protesters also want the end of austerity reforms centered on cuts in the country’s generous but unaffordable pension system.

The left smells blood just over a year since Temer took over from Workers’ Party president Dilma Rousseff after she was impeached for illegally manipulating government accounts. Opponents say Temer could soon be forced to resign or subjected to an impeachment trial.

“It’s the end of this putchist government. That’s why the people have taken to the streets,” said Francisca Gomes, 59, who came from Sao Paulo to protest and carried a funeral ribbon with the president’s image and the words “RIP Temer.”

Inside Congress, Workers’ Party Senator Gleisi Hoffmann echoed those words, saying: “Temer will fall. Everyone says this government is dead.”

Temer insists the austerity reforms are already working and that more measures, especially pension reform, are needed.

Stuck in deep recession for two years, Latin America’s biggest economy is just now showing the first signs of returning to growth, although unemployment stands at nearly 14 percent.

However, Temer has been on the ropes since allegations that he attempted to pay hush money to a jailed politician and was involved in bribery. The scandal follows a landslide of other corruption allegations against much of Temer’s government and Congress in a huge probe known as “Operation Car Wash.”

For now, the president is trying to shore up his congressional alliance to resist calls for his impeachment. He has said he did nothing wrong and will not resign.

But analysts say that intense negotiations are going on behind the scenes to find the least traumatic way possible for Temer to be eased out.

Because he has no vice president, the constitution would require a 30-day period led by the speaker of the lower house, followed by an indirect election in which Congress picks a new president until after scheduled elections in October 2018.

“He doesn’t have the minimum conditions for this. But how the end will come for his government is the question.” AFP </s> Brazil’s president ordered soldiers to restore order in the country’s capital Wednesday after some government ministries were evacuated during clashes between police and protesters who are seeking the leader’s ouster. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched to Congress to protest economic reforms that President Michel Temer is pushing through and to demand he step down amid a corruption scandal.

Scuffles between police and protesters who tried to jump a cordon mushroomed into a series of clashes in which officers fired tear gas and pepper spray to contain the crowd. Protesters set fires and used portable toilets as barricades.

Local media captured video images of military police firing pistols into the air. The Secretariat of Public Security issued a statement late Wednesday saying it would investigate the weapons firing, saying that “this procedure is not used in protests.” Earlier, it said one person had been injured by a bullet but give no information on who fired the shot.

A fire broke out in the Ministry of Agriculture, and demonstrators smashed windows and doors at other ministries. Some government agencies were evacuated in response, the president’s office said.

In a brief national address during the unrest, Defense Minister Raul Jungmann said troops were being sent to guard federal buildings, including the presidential palace. The weeklong deployment was authorized by a presidential decree which left open the possibility that soldiers could be used more widely in Brasilia. The decree said Jungmann would decide the scope.

“This mess, this mayhem is unacceptable,” Jungmann said. “President Temer will not allow that.” Jungmann added that soldiers had already entered the Foreign Ministry, and televised images showed troops outside the presidential palace. In all, 1,500 will be deployed, the Defense Ministry said.

Temer is struggling to retain power after the release of a recording that appears to capture him approving hush money for a convicted former lawmaker. Brazil’s top court is investigating him for alleged obstruction of justice and involvement in passive corruption. The president has denied wrongdoing and said he will not resign.

His unusual decision to call in the military could heighten anger against the government if it is seen as the last gasp of a president trying to maintain his hold on power.

“This decree was never used in this context to protect an administration that is politically isolated,” said Newton de Oliveira, a professor and security specialist at Mackenzie University in Rio de Janeiro. He said he thought the supreme court might be called on to evaluate whether the move was constitutional.

Late Wednesday, Temer’s office issued a statement saying the move was necessary after violence had put the lives and safety of public servants at risk. It said the president had determined that using the country’s National Force, an elite police entity, would not have been sufficient. He also denied the move was unusual, it said.

“When order is re-established, the decree will be revoked,” the statement said. “The president of the republic underscores that he will not hesitate to exercise the authority given to his office whenever it is necessary.”

Already, many Brazilians see Temer as illegitimate because he came to office after his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached and removed. His popularly only plummeted once he began governing as he tried to pass economic changes meant to jump start the economy, which is in a deep and protracted recession. A series of corruption allegations that have swirled around him and his administration also disillusioned voters.

Now, with the latest allegations against Temer himself, many Brazilians have had enough. In the wake of the announcement on the use of the military, senior officials began distancing themselves from the decision.

“If this government cannot hold itself up, the armed forces will not hold up this government,” said Sen. Renan Calheiros, who is the whip for Temer’s party in the upper house but has increasingly challenged the president.

Rodrigo Maia, the speaker of the lower house of Congress, who had asked Temer to instead use the National Force, called the move “an excess” and said he hoped it wouldn’t last longer than a day. Sen. Romero Juca, a Temer ally, defended the president’s decision, saying: “President Temer brought in the armed forces because a bunch of criminals were setting ministries on fire.”

The pressure on Temer to resign continued to ratchet up Wednesday. Federal police asked the president to submit to questioning, his defense team said in a statement, but a supreme court justice later determined the police did not have the right to do that.

Temer also lost yet another aide when Sandro Mabel resigned Wednesday, saying he needs to spend more time with his family. He is the latest in a string of aides and allies who have resigned or been fired amid corruption allegations.

With Brazil deeply divided and a political crisis deepening, a session of the lower house of Congress became chaotic, with opposition politicians surrounding the speaker’s desk in protest and holding signs saying Congress’ workings should be transparent. The Senate’s session also descended into chaos.

Several lawmakers have submitted requests for Temer’s impeachment to the speaker and Maia has angered them by saying he would take his time to review the requests.

While Congress debated, 35,000 people were marching toward the chamber down a long avenue lined with the main government buildings, including the Supreme Court, the presidential palace and the ministries.

Protesters shouted “Out with Temer!” and carried signs calling for immediate direct presidential elections. If Temer resigned, the Constitution says Congress would elect the next president, who would hold power for the rest of his term, which runs to the end of 2018. But many Brazilians, disgusted with the political class, want to vote themselves.

Protests in Rio de Janeiro against Temer and state austerity measures also descended into chaos, with demonstrators clashing with police.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App now </s> Brasilia: Protesters demanding the resignation of Brazilian President Michel Temer staged running battles with police and set fire to a ministry building in Brasilia on Wednesday, prompting the scandal-hit leader to order the army onto the streets.

Police unleashed volleys of tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets to halt tens of thousands of protesters as they marched towards Congress to call for Temer‘s ouster and an end to his austerity program.

Masked protesters fired powerful fireworks at police, set ablaze furniture in the agriculture ministry, and sprayed anti-Temer graffiti on government buildings.

It was the most violent protest in Brasilia since anti-government demonstrations in 2013 and fueled a political crisis sparked by allegations Temer condoned paying off a potential witness in a massive corruption probe.

The scandal has raised chances Brazil could see a second president fall in less than a year.

Police cordons held back protesters from advancing on the modernistic Congress building where the main ally in Temer‘s coalition, the PSDB party, met to discuss whether to continue backing him and prepare for a post-Temer transition.

One protestor was shot and wounded, police said. Local media reported at least one other demonstrator was seriously injured by a rubber bullet to the face, while another lost part of his hand while trying to throw an explosive device at officers. The city government said 49 people were hurt.

Temer approved a decree allowing army troops to assist police in restoring order in Brasilia for the next week, giving soldiers policing powers and the right to make arrests. His office said Temer turned to the military after police were overwhelmed.

The move brought immediate criticism in a nation where memories of a brutal 1964-85 military dictatorship remain fresh.

“What are they going to do? Intervene and wage war against the people that are out there on the esplanade?” Senator Gleisi Hoffmann of the opposition Workers’ Party said on the Senate floor.

Temer, a former vice president whose government’s approval rating is in the single digits, took office a year ago after former President Dilma Rousseff was impeached for breaking budgetary laws.

Rousseff and her supporters labeled that a “coup” orchestrated by Temer and his allies in an effort to halt a sweeping, three-year corruption probe that has placed scores of sitting politicians under investigation.

Temer defiantly refused to resign last week after the Supreme Court opened an investigation into the hush-money allegations made in plea-bargain testimony by executives at meatpacking giant JBS SA.

The accusations pummelled Brazilian financial markets on doubts Congress would pass government austerity measures meant to pull Brazil out of its worst-ever recession

Temer could be removed from office by Brazil’s top electoral court which meets on June 6 to decide whether to annul the 2014 election victory by the Rousseff-Temer ticket for using illegal money to fund their campaign.

If that happens, Congress would have 30 days to pick a successor to lead Brazil until elections late next year.

The parties of Temer‘s main allies are split over whether to quit his coalition immediately or first agree on a consensus figure to replace him and save his reform agenda. The market-friendly measures are considered vital to restore business credibility and investment needed to end a two-year recession.

The PSDB, Brazil’s third largest party, announced it was staying in the government for now to make sure an orderly transition was in place if Temer has to go, party leader, Senator Tasso Jereissati, told reporters after meeting with lawmakers.

Outside, the message demonstrators chanted was clear: “Out with Temer!, general election now!”

Sonia Fleury, a political analyst at think tank FGV, said more violent protests can be expected in a country where discontent with a discredited political establishment is rife.

“We are in a very deep crisis. Temer is no longer governing. Anything he does, like call out soldiers, can only make things worse,” she said.

Unions were galvanised by opposition to a bill that would cut their power in the workplace by allowing temporary non-unionized contracts and ending obligatory payment of union dues.

“Temer can’t stay and these reforms that trample on our rights cannot advance. We want elections now,” said Dorivaldo Fernandes, 56, member of a health workers union in the neighbouring state of Goias.

Leftist senators, who on Tuesday succeeded in obstructing discussion of the labor reform bill, read out a constitutional amendment in committee that would allow early general elections instead of waiting until October 2018.

But chances of changing the constitution in the midst of a political crisis were minimal.

What to read next: </s> BRASÍLIA—Thousands of demonstrators on Tuesday evening staged one of the strongest protests against Brazilian President Michel Temer and his fiscal-austerity agenda, turning over cars and trying to break into the country’s Senate as police fired tear gas and what appeared to be rubber bullets.

The demonstrators were mostly from leftist groups who supported former President Dilma Rousseff, who was ousted in August accused of budget crimes.

... </s> Thousands of people took to the streets across Brazil demanding the resignation of President Michel Temer, who is the target of a corruption investigation.

Organised mainly via social media, the largest protests on Thursday took place in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and the nation’s capital, Brasilia, Efe news reported.

Besides Temer’s departure, demonstrators also called for early general elections.

The protests materialised hours after Brazil’s Supreme Court authorised an investigation into allegations Temer encouraged the payment of bribes to a former top lawmaker convicted earlier this year of graft.

Justice Edson Fachin, who is overseeing cases related to the investigation of a $2 billion corruption scheme centred on state oil company Petrobras, approved the probe of the president’s conduct.

Temer’s legal troubles are the latest development in the Petrobras investigation, which is known as Lava Jato (Car Wash). A former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faces several corruption trials related to the probe.

Temer on Thursday vehemently rejected calls for him to resign from both the opposition and members of his own ruling coalition.

“I won’t resign. I repeat. I won’t resign, and I demand that everything be fully cleared up,” the head of state said in a message to the nation from the Planalto presidential palace.

Under Brazil’s constitution, Temer’s resignation or removal would require Congress to choose someone to serve the balance of ousted President Dilma Rousseff’s 2015-2019 term.

But groups of lawmakers in both chambers have already drafted bills to hold the presidential election this year instead of 2018, as scheduled.

This latest political crisis caused stock prices to plunge – and trading to be temporarily halted at the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange.

The exchange’s benchmark Ibovespa index ended the day down 8.8 per cent, while the value of the Brazilian real against the dollar plunged by nearly 9 per cent. </s> BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Youths protesting against austerity measures aimed at restoring fiscal discipline in Brazil burned cars and smashed windows of government buildings with rocks yesterday as lawmakers debated a 20-year cap on federal spending.

The angry outburst pointed to growing social unrest with the government’s austerity drive in the midst of Brazil’s worst recession since the 1930s, which has left 12 million people out of work.

Police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse a crowd they estimated at 10,000 demonstrators, which converged on Congress on the ministry-lined central esplanade of Brasilia.

Three cars were set on fire and walls were sprayed with graffiti calling for the ouster of President Michel Temer, according to a Reuters photographer at the scene.

Temer, through a spokesman, condemned the vandalism and violence as an undemocratic form of pressure on Congress.

The demonstrations brought together students, landless peasants, labor union activists and members of the Workers Party carrying red flags.

Brazil’s leftist opposition say the spending cap proposed by Temer would cripple public education and health services in Brazil.

To make the bill more palatable, Temer has proposed delaying cuts in education and health for a year, while insisting the belt-tightening measures are needed to restore fiscal discipline and control a widening budget deficit.

The protests also targeted lawmakers seeking an amnesty from prosecution for taking kickbacks in the massive corruption scandal surrounding state-controlled oil company Petrobras. . They recalled mass protests in 2013 against corruption and costly stadiums built for the soccer World Cup.

The Senate is expected to vote for the drastic public spending ceiling in a first-round vote later on Tuesday. The measure, if it clears a final vote on Dec. 13, would limit spending to the rate of inflation for up to 20 years, with the option for a presidential revision after 10 years. </s> Brasilia — Brazil’s Michel Temer hoped to save his presidency on Friday by persuading the corruption-riddled congress to back him, despite growing calls for his head in the country’s explosive new graft scandal.

His office said he would start the day by meeting his defence minister, Raul Jungmann, and military commanders at the presidential complex.

The agenda appeared to be designed to underline the centre-right president’s insistence on maintaining authority.

On Thursday, Temer emphatically refused to step down after the Supreme Court authorised an investigation against him.

He is accused of having given his blessing to payments meant to keep the former speaker of the lower house, Eduardo Cunha, from spilling secrets while he is in prison for taking millions of dollars in bribes.

The hush money allegations left Temer teetering barely a year after he took power in controversial circumstances, replacing his impeached predecessor, leftist president Dilma Rousseff.

He now faces eight impeachment demands filed in congress and a battle to maintain his ruling coalition. There were protests by several thousand people in Rio de Janeiro and the capital Brasilia that ended in clashes with riot police.

More anti-Temer protests were planned this weekend.

The Supreme Court, which deals with sitting politicians, rarely moves quickly on investigations and suspects often manage to string out their cases.

That leaves impeachment proceedings as the most likely avenue to remove Temer from power, just like a year ago when Rousseff was stripped of her office and Temer, her vice-president, automatically got the top job.

But for that to happen, Temer’s powerful ruling coalition in congress would have to turn on him.

"That’s why today the main question is to know whether the parties that form the government’s base will leave," said Thomaz Pereira, constitutional law professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio.

The culture minister, Roberto Freire, resigned on Thursday and Brazil’s media was rife with reports of other ministers threatening to exit. Temer will try to stem the flow, especially with his PMDB party’s main partners, the PSDB.

Ironically, the legislature that now holds Temer’s fate in its hands is itself riddled with corruption scandals.

About two-thirds of legislators have had brushes with the law at some point. And a third of the senate is currently being investigated in the "Operation Car Wash" investigation that has uncovered massive bribery and embezzlement in Brazil’s elite — with Temer’s investigation being just the latest offshoot.

The scandal started with the revelation in O Globo newspaper on Wednesday that Temer had been secretly recorded while talking to Joesley Batista, an executive from the meatpacking giant JBS, on March 7.

On the tape, which was finally made public on Thursday, Batista told Temer that he was paying money every month to Cunha "to keep things under control". Temer replied: "You need to keep doing that, OK?" The conversation, which was provided to prosecutors as part of a plea bargain with Batista, is now in evidence with the Supreme Court. It has been interpreted as referring to bribes given to Cunha to make sure that he does not talk to prosecutors himself.

But in his statement on Thursday, Temer angrily responded: "I never bought anyone’s silence." He also told the nation that his work to push unpopular austerity reforms through congress was just starting to show positive results.

Temer highlighted signs this week that Brazil’s two-year recession was coming to an end and claimed that "optimism was returning". Now "those efforts may come to nothing", he warned.

Investors, who have been betting on Temer achieving his makeover of the battered economy, will be watching for more mayhem on the markets on Friday.

The Sao Paulo stock market reacted in panic on Thursday to the spectre of Brazil losing its second president in just more than 12 months, with trading suspended briefly after the Bovespa index crashed more than 10%. </s> • What are the reasons for the protests?

The protesters want President Michel Temer, who was placed under investigation last week on corruption charges, to resign.

Temer has been on the ropes since allegations that he tried to pay hush money to a jailed politician.
• Why have troops been deployed?

Violence erupted after the crowd, estimated by police at around 35,000 people, marched towards the presidential palace.

Although most of the protesters were peaceful, small groups wearing masks threw stones at police officers and smashed their way into the agriculture ministry.

This led to he government to deploy soldiers in the capital, which sent a psychological shockwave through Brazil, which was tuled by a military dictatorship in the 1980s.

"The question now is that you have demonstrations where you have these black blocs that started destroying a ministry," says Alfredo Vallado, a professor of Latin American geopolitics at Science Po. "The military police that is used in Brazil for this kind of event couldn't control the crowd, that's why the government called the troops. But obviously, in this moment it becomes political, which is why everybody is yelling about it."
• Who is behind the protest?

The demonstration was organised by left-wing groups and trade unions, who were also protesting against austerity measures.

Brazil has been stuck in deep recession for the last two years and also in a state of political instability.

Temer's troubles came just a year after he took over from Workers' Party leader Dilma Rousseff. She was impeached at the time for illegally manipulating government accounts.

"There have been people coming in from all over the country," says Tom Long, a lecturer in international relations at Britain's University of Reading. "A lot of this is probably organic, some of it is supported by opposition parties, but the Fuera Temer [Temera out!] movement has gained such strengh over the last year, so I think a lot of this protest should be seen as happening organically."
• Could these protests lead to Temer's resignation?

For now the president is trying to shore up his congressional alliance to resist calls for his impeachment. He claims to have done nothing wrong and says he will not resign.

But intense negotiations are going on behind the scenes, analysts say, to find the least traumatic way possible for Temer to be eased out.

"I don't think he will stay," says Sonia Fleury, a political analyst at thinktank FGV. "His situation is very fragile because he has no real support from his coalition. They are trying to find a solution that will gather different political forces and that's not easy."
• What happens if Temer resigns?

"There's two possibilities: either indirect elections, which would be held in Congress where a placeholder president is elected," explains Tom Long. "If Temer is removed because the last elections are cancelled, then that would open up general elections. [Former President] Lula said he would contest them and polls show him in the lead."

For now the only certain thing is that there will be more protests in the coming days and weeks.
Protestors set fire to the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters in Brasília amid calls for the impeachment or resignation of Michel Temer as President of Brazil over allegations of corruption.