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Police in Rio clash with demonstrators protesting austerity

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/world/12/07/rio-clash.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Protesters run away from tear gas during clashes with riot police following a public servants protest against austerity measures in front of the Rio de Janeiro state assembly on Tuesday. <em>Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP</em></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian police fired percussion grenades and rubber bullets Tuesday at protesters angry over austerity measures in cash-strapped Rio de Janeiro state.</p><p>The clash broke out when the estimated 300 demonstrators, most of them civil servants, tried to overrun the state assembly in downtown Rio.</p><p>They were dispersed by police. Streets were blocked off and traffic was diverted.</p><p>Some within the group hurled projectiles at police and the assembly building. Police fought back with the percussion grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas.</p><p>The newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo said at least two people were hurt by rubber bullets.</p><p>Last month governor Luis Fernando Pezao presented a package of unpopular spending cuts and tax increases to try to fix heavily indebted Rio state&#x27;s financial woes -- just one sad chapter of the overall national economic crisis and recession. Just months ago the city of Rio hosted the Summer Olympics.</p><p>Some of those measures were passed by decree, but others need to go through the legislature. The voting began Tuesday and is scheduled to last through next Monday.</p><p>State officials forecast for this year a deficit equivalent to 5.4 billion dollars. Without the austerity measures, they say, the shortfall would balloon to three times that by the end of 2018.</p><p>The package calls for a cut in spending on social programs, an increase in what workers pay into the state pension system, a rise in public transport fares and reductions in retirement pensions.</p><p>The economic crisis has wreaked havoc in health care and public safety, and the city has endured an alarming rise in the crime rate.</p><div> </div>

<p>Brazilian police fired percussion grenades and rubber bullets Tuesday at protesters angry over austerity measures in cash-strapped Rio de Janeiro state.</p>

Brazilian police fired percussion grenades and rubber bullets Tuesday at protesters angry over austerity measures in cash-strapped Rio de Janeiro state.