MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets on Sunday to join demonstrations demanding President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment.
Protests organized by multiple activist groups took place across 22 Brazilian states and the federal capital, Brasilia, in some 200 Brazilian towns and cities, with the largest demonstrations held in Sao Paulo, according to local media reports.
The estimates of the number of people engaged in nationwide protests varied.
In Rio de Janeiro, the activists gathered along famous Copacabana beach, while in Brasilia protesters marched on government headquarters.
Earlier in the day, Rousseff sent two of her ministers, the justice minister and the general secretary, to address the protesting nation at a televised press conference. Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo was quoted by the media as saying that the government saw the rallies as an expression of democracy.
The protesters in Europe, including France and the United Kingdom, held rallies in solidarity with the Brazilian people.
Dilma Rousseff, 67 is facing a wave of discontent over a struggling economy and a major corruption scandal in the state-owned company Petrobras.
Rousseff headed Petrobras for seven years, between 2003 and 2010, during which most of the corruption had reportedly taken place.
In March, the first wave of protests against the government of Rousseff brought together at least 500,000 people and became the largest political demonstration registered in Brazil since the 1984 protests.
