SAO PAULO: Police in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, fired stun grenades and water cannon Friday to break up protesters calling for the departure of President Dilma Rousseff, just before a pro-government demonstration.
Riot police dispersed some 150 protesters who had been camping out for nearly two days in front of an industry federation called FIESP that openly opposes the leftist president and has become a headquarters for the protest movement.
Thousands of protesters gathered Wednesday night outside the building, which was illuminated in the green and yellow of the Brazilian flag with a black band across it reading "Resign now."
Police swooped Friday morning to disperse hardcore protesters still camped out at the building in the heart of the city's financial district.
The intervention came as government supporters prepared their own rally later in the day at a nearby site.
Rousseff has summoned her backers for a show of strength as she seeks to fend off an impeachment bid, a deep recession and an explosive corruption scandal centered on state oil company Petrobras.
Pro-government demos have been called in some 30 cities around the country, after an estimated three million anti-government protesters hit the streets Sunday.
The Workers' Party still retains support among the poor and working-class voters who have benefited from the social programs it has rolled out in its 13 years in power.
But Rousseff's popularity has slid to around 10 percent as her government has become mired in crisis.
And her move to name her once wildly popular predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as her chief of staff met with a backlash this week from protesters and the courts.
A federal court has blocked his appointment over allegations he is seeking to use ministerial immunity to dodge arrest on money-laundering charges in the Petrobras scandal.
The Sao Paulo protesters vowed to return, raising the possibility of clashes between rival demonstrators later in the day.
"According to the art of war, you take a step back now and two steps forward later. We're going to come back," protest leader Renato Tamaio told news portal G1.
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