Brazil hit by fresh protests despite Rousseff speech

Fresh protests has rocked Brazil despite conciliatory remarks by President Dilma Rousseff, who pledged to improve public services and fight harder against corruption.
Rousseff's televised address late Friday appeared to have failed to sway protesters, as protests were held in over 100 cities yesterday and activists vowed to continue the struggle and ordinarily football-mad Brazilians once again protested outside Confederations Cup games.
More than 70,000 people chanting "The Cup for whom?" rallied in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte as Mexico edged Japan 2-1 in the football tournament seen as a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup.
Police fired tear gas when some protesters hurled stones and tried to break through the security perimeter around the Mineirao stadium. Some 25 people, including five police officers, were reported injured in the clashes, and another 22 protesters were arrested.

Later, the unrest spread as shops were looted, and banks and a car dealership vandalized.
"We are against the World Cup because it masks the problems the country faces," said musician Leonardo Melo, who dismissed Rousseff's speech as "rhetoric."

Over the past two weeks, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians have protested against the billions of dollars being spent on the World Cup, accusing the government of wasting money and neglecting health, education and transport.
More than a million marched in scores of cities on Thursday.
In Sao Paulo, 35,000 people took to the streets peacefully yesterday to denounce a proposed constitutional amendment that would take away the power of independent public prosecutors to probe crimes, making it harder to combat corruption.

In the southern town of Uruguaiana, demonstrators peacefully occupied the bridge linking Brazil to Uruguay for four hours.
In the university town of Santa Maria, where a disco fire killed 242 young people in January, 30,000 people protested.
"Santa Maria is not going to stop. We have 242 reasons to fight," read one large banner.
In Salvador, where Brazil beat Italy 4-2 in another Confederations Cup match, demonstrators totaled about 200 people, according to an AFP reporter.