As people from across the globe celebrated the World Cup football matches in Brazil, Brazilians erupted against its exorbitant tab. Police clashed with protesters in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and several other host cities as the World Cup got under way in Brazil. Officers used tear gas on crowds in Sao Paulo about 13km (8 miles) from the stadium and hours before Brazil's team beat Croatia 3-1 in the opening match. Several people were also injured after scuffles broke out in Rio de Janeiro. In a nation with tens of millions of poor, protesters are angry at World Cup expenditures of $11.5 billion, which is what the government has spent on preparations for the Olympics that Rio will host in 2016. Earlier, striking airport workers in Rio de Janeiro blocked a road outside the airport, demanding a wage increase and a World Cup bonus. Striking teachers also staged a rally in Rio city centre, further disrupting traffic. Police charged protesters with batons and riot shields and fired rubber bullets and tear gas near a metro station on the route to the Arena Corinthians. Police moved in after the demonstrators, chanting, “there won't be a Cup,” tried to block the road. There were also clashes in Rio, the capital Brasilia and two other World Cup host cities — Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre. In Belo Horizonte, where England will play Costa Rica on 24 June, about 200 people took part in a demonstration against the tournament. Protesters in the southeastern city overturned a police car and smashed the windows of banks and shops. At least one hotel shut its doors and asked guests not to venture outside. “I'm totally against the Cup,” one protester in Sao Paulo told AP. “We're in a country where the money does not go to the community and, meanwhile, we see all these millions spent on stadiums.” Further protests are planned across Brazil over the course of the tournament. Last year, more than a million people joined protests across the country to demand better public services and highlight corruption and the high cost of staging the World Cup. Since then, other smaller anti-World Cup protests have been held in Brazil, with some descending into violence. With a nationwide wave of excitement but also wafts of tear gas, the country that sees itself as the artful soul of soccer but is deeply conflicted about spending billions of dollars on hosting its showcase tournament kicked off one of the most troubled World Cups ever. It started Thursday with the home team in an opening match in a stadium that was barely ready on time. In the crowd were anarchist adherents to the “Black Bloc” tactic of protest, a violent form of demonstration and vandalism that emerged in the 1980s in West Germany and helped shut down the 1999 World Trade Summit in Seattle. Such Black Bloc protesters have frequently squared off against police in several Brazilian cities in the past year, as a drumbeat of anti-government demonstrations have continued since a massive wave of protests hit Brazil last year. Brazilian police had also made 11 arrests and used tear gas to disperse anti-World Cup demonstrators in the northeastern city of Salvador. Military police said the arrests had been for “vandalism” in the city just 5km from the Fonte Nova stadium, where the Netherlands beat reigning champions Spain in their opening group match. Some protesters threw stones at vehicles on display at automobile dealers and cars parked in the streets, police said. Preparations for the event were marred by the late delivery of several stadiums and facilities, as well as by dozens of demonstrations, some of them violent. Many Brazilians say the World Cup cash would have been better directed at public services for the poor and on upgrading public health, education and transport. Compiled from news agencies
