Brazilian authorities have heightened police presence, bearing up for another night of massive protests across Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
A massive march on Monday proved that police in the South American country hugely underestimated the number of people that flooded the streets for a rally that was, overall, peaceful, but ended with fires and scattered vandalism, The Guardian reported on Thursday.
Only 150 police officers were sent out to handle a crowd of more than 100,000 protesters who had gathered to demonstrate against government spending on the World and Confederation Cup, police brutality and the suffering economy.
As a result, officials increased the number of riot officers tenfold-8,000 police will stand watch at the Maracana stadium, where the Spanish and Tahitian soccer teams are scheduled to play this week.
According to Frederico Caldas, military police spokesperson for Rio state, the officers will come armed with teargas and rubber bullets. Caldas told The Guardian that officials will only use the latter weapon in dire circumstances.
"We hope it will not be necessary to call on this battalion," another spokesperson said. "Rubber bullets are a last resort."
In the past week, protests have grown from larger cities like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and capital Brasilia, to sweep more than 70 smaller municipalities across the country.
The citizens of Brazil are fighting in what is being called The Salad Revolution because of government hikes on cost of public transportation, huge scandals in office, an economic slump, and having to foot the lengthy bills that will come from hosting two of the largest soccer matches in the sport: the World Cup and the Confederation Cup.
According to The Guardian, around 250,000 people rallied on Monday in more than 12 cities. For the next two nights, tens of thousands of Brazil residents demonstrated in Sao Paulo. Meanwhile, in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte, protestors gathered to picket for 10 hours straight.
Protest organizers are slated to rally again on Thursday, with hopes that it will be the largest march yet.
Police plan on using helicopters to keep an eye on crowds, while dashing rumors that they would employ drones to control the demonstrators.
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