Brazilian justice minister warns against abuse in protests

Brazil's Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo has said that no abuse, either from authorities or protesters, will be tolerated in any protests which might occur during the FIFA World Cup.

Minister Cardozo commented on a Ministry handbook which aims to guide policemen's actions in protests, and said that the Brazilian government is working to ensure excellent security during the tournamen, Xinhua reported.

"I can assure that the concentrated efforts of all organs, the Justice and Defencse Ministries and the police forces, for everything to work out, left great results," the Minister said. "We will work hard to ensure excellent security for the Cup, to the best of our capacity."

Last June, amid the FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazil was taken over by massive protests which took millions of citizens to the streets, protesting against poor public services, such as education, healthcare and urban transportation.

In many of those protests, there were violent conflicts between protesters and the police. Authorities accused protesters of vandalism, but the police was accused several times of using excessive force against peaceful protesters.