World Cup begins with diminished protests, increased security, and debates over legacy.
| Autor | Scruggs, Gregory |
Brazil opened the 2014 World Cup in Sao Paulo on June 12 with a 3-1 win against Croatia that featured two historic firsts for the quadrennial soccer tournament. Brazil, which with five trophies has more than any other country, had never before scored an own goal (an accidental goal against itself) in a World Cup. In addition, it was the first time that the president of the host country and the president of FIFA, the sport's world governing body, did not officially open the event.
President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and FIFA president Sepp Blatter both attended the match but did not appear before the public during the opening ceremony, a decision that highlighted the unpopularity of both the Brazilian government and FIFA with respect to the organization, execution, and cost of the event. Anti-FIFA graffiti is visible in many of the 12 host cities, especially Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and fans booed Rousseff as well as chanted a vulgar derogatory phrase when she was shown on the Itaquerao Stadium's screen.
At least eight host cities saw protests on the day of the opening match, although with numbers in the hundreds to thousands, far below the tens to hundreds of thousands that flooded Brazilian streets in June 2013 (NotiSur, Aug. 23, 2013). In Sao Paulo, home to the largest opening-day protest, a few thousand organized under the banner "Nao Vai Ter Copa" (There will be no Cup) clashed with military police and shock troops, which fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Several journalists were injured, including a CNN reporter live on screen and an Argentine photojournalist.
Following the Sao Paulo protests, the minister of the Secretaria de Direitos Humanos, Ideli Salvatti, defended the actions of the police in breaking up the gathering. "The right to protest cannot impede the right of people to go to the event," she said at a press conference with UNICEF to highlight efforts to fight sexual exploitation of children. She claimed that the secretariat's ombud had already registered complaints about excessive use of force by police.
However, on June 15, the date of the first game played in Rio de Janeiro, multiple media sources reported that riot police and a plainclothes police officer used live fire to disperse a small crowd of protesters outside Maracana Stadium.
Protesters balance fandom with concerns, reject Rousseff's arguments
On June 10, Rousseff appeared live on national television to defend the World Cup against the principal critiques...
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