Brazilians protest in Rio as city prepares for Olympics

TIL Desk Sports/ Protesters turned out for lightly attended demonstrations in Rio against embattled President Dilma Rousseff five days before the start of the 2016 Olympic Games. About 4,000 protesters yesterday gathered on the beach at Copacabana in a festive atmosphere with sound trucks blasting out a mix of samba and the national anthem.

Marchers carried an enormous banner that read “Dilma out and prison for Lula,” a reference to former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was charged Friday with obstruction of justice in an ongoing corruption probe. “We want our country back and for these people to go,” said Vilma Moniz Portella, a lawyer carrying a small inflatable doll of the judge leading the probe into bribes and kickbacks at state oil giant Petrobras.

The scandal has shaken Brazil’s political and business establishment, casting a shadow over the August 5-21 Olympic Games, the first ever held in a South American country. Marchers said the turnout was smaller in Rio than at past protests calling for Rousseff’s impeachment that have attracted hundreds of thousands of people. Rousseff’s impeachment trial for alleged violations of budgeting rules is set to begin August 29.