Federal police in Brazil are threatening a nationwide strike during the monthlong World Cup if the government doesn't increase their pay and improve working conditions.
Officers staged a protest rally yesterday outside the Rio de Janeiro concert hall where national team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was announcing his roster for the soccer tournament.
Protesters carried a life-size inflatable white elephant to complain about the high costs that the World Cup has brought to a country still struggling with deficient public services.
At Copacabana Beach, other protesters lined up soccer balls with red crosses on the sand, showing photos of victims who have been killed or injured in gunfights in the city's supposedly "pacified" slums.
