Some 5,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of São Paulo, Brazil, June 13 to protest the government’s increase of bus and subway fares by 7 percent to about $1.50 a ride. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters, injuring at least 55 and detaining dozens. A similar demonstration two days earlier attracted some 12,000 people, according to the Wall Street Journal. The protests, which have attracted many university students, have been organized by the group Movimento Passe Livre, which demands free public transportation.

Similar actions have taken place in Rio de Janeiro as well as Porto Alegre in the south, Goiânia in the central region and Natal in the northeast. The fare increase is being pushed amid rising prices of food and basic services, which have the greatest impact on working people.

On June 12, São Paulo state’s Public Ministry proposed suspending the fare raise for 45 days to further evaluate it. A couple days earlier, a judge in Goiânia ruled against imposing a 10 percent fare increase in that city.

—BRIAN WILLIAMS