"I am listening", Brazil’s President Rousseff tells protestors

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff today said in a televised address to the nation that her government is listening to the demands of hundreds of thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets; but also warned that violence would not be tolerated and her government would "maintain order".

After more than a week of massive protests across Brazil and often violent clashes involving the police, Rousseff finally broke a near-silence as she used a prime time television broadcast to say that peaceful demonstrations were part of a strong democracy.

Anger about a hike in public transport fares has spiralled into a wider movement demanding an end to government corruption. The protests erupted simultaneously in around 80 cities, with a range of grievances including corruption and spiralling costs for poor public services against the backdrop of billions of dollars spent preparing for next year's football World Cup tournament and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

Standing before a Brazilian flag, Rousseff said that the government knew there were many things "we can do quicker and better" and that Brazil "fought hard to become a democratic country" but that she could not tolerate the violence carried out by a minority of the protesters.

Rousseff pointedly referred to sacrifices her generation made to free the nation from dictatorship – she is a former Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil's 1964-85 military regime and was imprisoned for three years and tortured by the junta.

"We need to oxygenate our political system … and make it more transparent," Rousseff said in response to the protests.

Unveiling details of a series of reforms that she and her government hope will defuse the unrest of recent days, the Brazilian president announced she would draft new plans for public transport and that all oil royalties would be channelled towards education.

Thousands of doctors would be brought in from overseas to assist the Brazilian public health service, she said.

The protests were at their peak on Friday. In the heart of Salvador, the capital of Bahia state, thousands of protesters, mostly students massed on Campo Grande square in a carnival atmosphere ahead of a Confederations Cup match pitting Uruguay against Nigeria.

Thousands more flooded the streets of the northeastern city of Recife while in Sao Paulo, crowds began congregating on the main Avenida Paulista.
 
In Rio de Janeiro, where Nigeria meets Spain in a Confederations Cup clash, 250,000 people said they would join the protest.

A huge rally was also scheduled in Brasilia under the slogan "Brazil, Wake Up".