MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil's main city again rocked by riots and vandalism over transport facilities and costs

Police clash with demonstrators who torched a bus and vandalized the terminal (Pic Reuters)

Brazilian police fired tear gas and have arrested scores of protesters in the country's main city Sao Paulo when a march demanding free public transportation for students turned violent. The protest on Friday evening blocked key city streets and disrupted the public transportation system in the city of 11 million. Police reported the arrest of at least 78 people.

A group of 'vandals', some wearing black hoods, smashed store windows and bank ATM machines, set a public bus on fire, and destroyed subway and bus ticket machines, while riot police wielding clubs and shields in turn fired tear gas to disperse the mob. Sao Paulo police blamed the anarchist group “Black Bloc” for the violence.

A group that police described as “criminals disguised as demonstrators” even surrounded and attacked a police colonel.

“Since the start of the demonstration the presence of Black Bloc members, who screamed at police and tried to get them to react violently, was noticed” city police said in a statement.

The anarchists “attacked Colonel Reynaldo Simoes Rossi in a cowardly fashion, stealing his pistol and his radio. The officer had his collar bone broken and multiple lacerations to his face and head,” the report read.

Broadcast images showed a sole plainclothes officer waving his pistol in an attempt to guard the colonel, who was on the ground being attacked by the masked thugs.

According to police, violence erupted following a three-hour march through the city to protest against the president’s failure to address the ongoing issue of the cost of transport.

Brazil is in the international spotlight as it prepares to host the World Cup next year and the Summer Olympics in 2016.

More than a million Brazilians took to the streets in June, angry at widespread corruption and the millions being spent on the sporting events. Protesters say the money should instead be invested in improved transportation, education and health services.

In a June protest in Sao Paulo, tens of thousands marched over the poor condition of the public transportation system. Smaller protests have since been taking place in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Those protests are often led by radical groups and usually end up in clashes with police.

Black Bloc members wear black hoods, T-shirts or scarves to cover their faces. They move in groups, and often break windows and attack police at otherwise peaceful demonstrations.

According to police, violence erupted following a three-hour march through the city to protest against the president’s failure to address the ongoing issue of the cost of transport.

Earlier on Friday, President Dilma Rousseff announced a 2.4bn (1,1bn dollars) plan to improve public transport in Sao Paulo. The money will be invested in urban train lines and subway expansion including a new line to link the city's airport to Sao Paulo's eastern zone.

“The republic and the state government have a common coordinated action to attack the most serious problems that we have in our largest cities, one of which is urban mobility,” said Ms Rousseff.