Protesters tear gassed as Brazil transit strike gets worse

Hundreds of members of the Workers Without Homes Movement and the General Workers Union joined striking transit workers to protest in Sao Paulo on Monday morning, and the results weren’t good. The Brazilian police tried to stop a riot inside the Ana Rosa station using tear gas and at least 13 strikers were arrested.

Before the Confederations Cup in 2013, hundreds of Brazilians protested against a 10-cent hike in bus fare. If quickly took over the country when millions of people decided to use the FIFA tournament as a reason to protest against the billions spent by the government in soccer games instead of education and health care. A year later, it looks like it’s starting all over again.

Bus drivers went on a strike on May 20, demanding a 20 percent increase in wages. When the strike finally ended, two weeks later, subway operators decided to start their own strike on Friday, demanding a 12.2 percent increase (initially, they wanted 35 percent).

According to the administration of the subway, 60 strikers were fired on Monday, and this number could rise, as hundreds of subway operators are at risk of being fired if they don’t explain why they didn’t go to work this morning.

The syndicate will have to pay a 100 thousand reais daily fine (approximately $45,000) if the strike continues, according to the local judge. If the strike continues, they will increase the fine to $220,000 per day.

Millions of citizens have been affected by the strike since 27 of the 68 subway stations were closed on Monday morning. Fernanda Clarkson, who lives right next to the Ana Rosa station in Sao Paulo, woke up this morning to the sound of helicopters and bombs.

“I woke up earlier to go to work because I knew they would maintain the strike,” Clarkson told SBNation.com. “I started to hear the bombs at 7 a.m. The strikers went to another station after some of them were arrested.”

“I live close to work so I took a taxi,” she continued. “I usually pay 3 reais to get to work by subway, and I paid 30 reais today. I arrived late at work, but at least I got here.

“No one is supporting the strike. I think they just want to get some attention because of the World Cup. It’s a shame that the first game will be in Sao Paulo.”

Brazil’s sports minister Aldo Rebelo is confident that the strike won’t continue until Thursday. The justice rules the strike “abusive” and demanded it to end, and Rebelo doubt that the strikers will “challenge the justice’s decision.”