Public sector workers storm Rio's legislative assembly

November 9th, 2016. Thousands of public workers stormed the Rio de Janeiro assembly, occupying the building in protest at the Brazilian government’s cuts to workers’ salaries.

Many of the protesters haven’t been paid in months. The new government, put into power in a coup-like move in September 2016 after Dilma Rousseff’s removal from office, announced massive cuts in the budget last week, including cuts to salaries. On Monday the 7th of November, Rio’s accounts were frozen by the government which ordered the state of Rio to pay millions of dollars in overdue debt.