With just about a month to go until Brazil hosts the World Cup, protesters and police clashed as many are unhappy focus is on the tournament and not enough attention is paid to the country's poor public services.
"We are beginning to gain strength to go against the injustices of the World Cup," said Luana Gurther, a social sciences student, reports The Associated Press. "We are the ones who should decide where the public money goes. More funding for schools, hospitals, housing, transportation -- not the Cup."
Protesters gathered in Sao Paulo on Thursday for demonstrations, which included lighting trash on fire, while police responded by shooting tear gas and rubber bullets. Many gathered in front of the stadium in Brazil's largest city, but said they weren't going to destroy it. "Our goal is symbolic," Guilherme Boulos, the Homeless Workers Movement leader, said. They were aiming to "show the effects the Cup has brought to the poor," which includes higher rent for those living near the stadium.
With the Cup rapidly approaching and Brazil scrambling to prepare for the influx in tourists on top of finishing the various stadiums, the Brazilian police decided to put together a pamphlet of advice according to the Estadao de Sao Paulo newspaper, notes BBC News.
One bit of advice is if you get robbed while visiting the county, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world, "Do not react, scream or argue," which is meant to help avoid "latrocinios" - which is when robbery ends with murder. People should also stay with others and do not flash around expensive items, which is more or less common sense for anywhere.