MTST

The Olympics Are Screwing Rio de Janeiro’s Poorest Citizens Out of Housing

VICE News

RIO DE JANEIRO — The prospect of hosting the 2016 Olympic Games was presented to the people of Rio de Janeiro as a chance to showcase the city to the world, generate investment, and improve the lives of its residents — but two recent events illustrate how the combination of construction for the games and a worsening housing crisis has prompted accusations that Olympic preparations are riding roughshod over Rio’s most vulnerable inhabitants.

On Tuesday, police evicted squatters from an abandoned apartment building that onetime Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista had leased from the Flamengo soccer club, hoping to convert it into a swanky hotel for the Olympics before the collapse of his oil and mining empire.

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Brazil metro strike protest clashes with police

Anadolu Agency

SÃO PAULO – Police in São Paulo clashed with protesters and striking metro (subway) workers on Monday, just three days before the World Cup kicks off in the city.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds, some of whom were blocking access to the Ana Rosa metro station. At least 13 people were detained.

São Paulo’s metro workers have been on strike for five consecutive days, and are threatening to continue their walkout until Thursday’s World Cup opening match.

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Thousands march on São Paulo World Cup stadium

Anadolu Agency

SÃO PAULO – A demonstration by the Homeless Workers’ Movement and other aligned protest groups drew crowds of around 15,000 people outside São Paulo’s World Cup stadium on Wednesday, the movement said during the event.

Police estimated 4,000 people had taken part in the protest.

The movement is demanding housing and the legalisation of around 90 plots of land its members have occupied around São Paulo and others across the country.

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Protesters urge general strike for World Cup opener

SÃO PAULO – Saturday’s anti-World Cup protest in São Paulo, the latest to be held under the #nãovaitercopa (“There Won’t Be A World Cup”) banner, might not have had the crowds of Thursday’s march led by the Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST), but it seemed to herald a change in tactics for the group and other protest movements: coordinating calls with the public sector for a general strike to disrupt the event and pressure the government.

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São Paulo protesters demand World Cup money for housing

SÃO PAULO – Thousands of people have vented their anger over World Cup spending at a protest in the centre of São Paulo on Thursday evening, and demanded that the government free up funds for housing for the poor.

The protest was led by the Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST) and allied groups, and also included anti-World Cup and leftist political factions. Police said around 5,000 people took part, but organisers put the number at 32,000.

“The ball is now in the people’s, the workers’ court,” an MTST leader, Guilherme Boulos, said in a closing speech to the protest march, which ended on São Paulo’s famous Ponte Estaiada.

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World Cup protests, strikes held across Brazil

Anadolu Agency

SÃO PAULO – A string of protests against the World Cup and strikes by teachers, military police and other public workers across Brazil have brought thousands of people onto the streets on Thursday.

Protests were held in multiple locations in and around São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, where police said around 4,000 people had taken part in the early demonstrations, most of which were organised by the Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST) and affiliated groups.

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São Paulo Homeless Workers’ camp reaches 2,500 families

Anadolu Agency

ITAQUERA, SÃO PAULO – Around 2,500 families associated to the Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST) are occupying land near São Paulo’s World Cup stadium, a representative at the site told the Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

A group of young families, some with babies and small children, took over the private land on Saturday and began setting up basic accommodation; numbers have continued to grow ever since.

UPDATE (9 May): A local court gave families 48 hours to leave the site on Wednesday evening, but the MTST appealed and said it would respond to forced eviction ‘with organised resistance’. The eviction order has since been suspended until 23 May pending review.

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