Homeless stage demonstration and block avenues in São Paulo

“It’s going to be one every week,” warned Guilherme Boulos, one of the coordinators of the Homeless Workers’ Movement (“MTST”). The organization staged this Thursday (May 15) a total of six protests which blocked the traffic of several of São Paulo’s main avenues.

“Governments have 28 days to solve the problem of our occupations. People want housing,” he said, referring to the period remaining until the beginning of the World Cup. One of the streets blocked was Radial Leste, where the Itaquerão Stadium is located. The arena is to host the international competition’s opening ceremony. The demonstration was peaceful and gathered approximately 2 thousand people according to the Military Police. The movement itself, however, reported the presence of 4 thousand protesters.

The protest in eastern São Paulo relied on the participation of occupants of a plot of land 4 km away from the stadium. The private plot was taken on May 3 by the homeless.

“Housing and urban reform have been among our demands for a long time now. At the same time, we want to denounce the contradictions of the World Cup, whose legacy for the poorer [section of the population] was exclusion,” Boulos stated. He regards the rise in the number of evictions and in rents as a result of the international event in the region.

The demonstrations in São Paulo are part of a series of protests taking place on May 15 in the World Cup host cities.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira