RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Summoned by unions and student organizations, demonstrators took part yesterday, August 13th, in protests against the contingent retention of funding for education, in defense of the independence of public universities, and against the Social Welfare reform.
According to the G1 news site, 85 cities in all 26 states and the Federal District saw peaceful protests until around 7 PM.
According to the National Confederation of Education Workers (CNTE), demonstrations had been scheduled in at least 170 cities in the 26 states.
On May 15th and 30th, the first two protests occurred in 220 and 136 cities, respectively.
The list of demands includes the repudiation of the funding freeze executed by Bolsonaro’s government for education as well as the “Future-se” program, recently introduced to attract private incentives to federal universities.
Many states have recently declared that all the funds expected to be released by the end of the year will be insufficient to cover costs and contracts due in September.
Several institutions caution that unless additional funds are released, they will be forced to suspend classes or activities due to lack of payment, such as security, cleaning, and energy services.
More information on Tuesday’s protests, dubbed #Tsunami13Agosto, is available on social media.