The Associated Press has reported that they have obtained a video showing a uniformed Brazilian police officer firing live rounds into a crowd of protesters. The Brazilian government has stated that, should the video hold merit, the officer in question will be investigated and, if found guilty, chastised.
The shooting allegedly took place during Sunday night's match between Argentina and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which ended in a 2-1 victory in favor of Argentina. Pedro Dantas, a spokesman for the Rio security, has said that this would be the first instance of its kind during the World Cup.
Protests have continued despite the uproarious excitement of the early World Cup games. So far, this World Cup has seen the most goals scored of any tournament before, with 37 scored in the first four days. The excitement has taken the edge off of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, against whom many of the protests were carried.
The marches continue, however, regardless of how the games go. Many labor and working-class groups view the spending for the World Cup as wasteful, especially in light of several stadiums being built that will no longer be used after the World Cup is done. The Brazilian government spent over $11 billion on the World Cup, the highest amount for any World Cup ever.
One of the most expensive stadiums built so far, which has also become the poster child for the excessive World Cup spending, is the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia, which cost $900 million to construct. There is no way for it to be sustainable after the World Cup games, as there is no local team to populate the field after the tournament is over.
Strangely enough, the Estadio Nacional is self-sufficient, in that it has more solar capacity than 11 of the countries represented in the World Cup.
Strong police presences surround each stadium preceding a match, and Brazil has enacted laws stating that protests cannot take place on stadium property. Marches that have impeded on stadium property have been broken up with the use of tear gas and stun grenades.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
