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Policemen fire rubber bullets and
tear gas against teachers during a protest in Curitiba. Photo: Reuters
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More than 100 people were injured on
Wednesday in violent clashes between protesters and police in the Brazilian
city of Curitiba, where teachers were marching to oppose a change to state
pensions, the city's mayor said.
Video
clips on the website of local newspaper Gazeta
do Povo showed police firing cans of tear gas at protesters as they
approached the legislative assembly for the state of Parana, where a vote was
being held to change pension terms for teachers.
Some
protesters could be seen wearing motorcycle helmets and using trash bin lids as
shields.
"We
have opened the city council building for people injured (in the protests). It
looks like a war zone," Curitiba Mayor Gustavo Fruet said on twitter,
adding that more than a hundred had been injured.
Despite
the protests, the changes to the state pension system were passed with 33,000
retirees being moved from a pension paid for by just the state to one where the
cost is shared between the state and working teachers.
The
state government of Parana said it "profoundly lamented" the violence
on its Facebook page, adding that seven people had been arrested.
The clashes come at a time
when states across Brazil are being forced to resign in spending as the country
imposes an austerity drive to try and escape recession.
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