Protest continues despite promises

BRASILIA (AP):There were more protests in parts of Brazil yesterday despite concessions announced 24 hours earlier by President Dilma Rousseff.

In a national broadcast, Rousseff vowed to battle corruption while improving government services as she acknowledged the anger that has led to vast, sometimes violent protests across Latin America's largest country.

Friday's national 10-minute address ended Rousseff's much-criticised silence in the face of demonstrations that have roiled the nation for more than a week.

She said she planned to meet soon with leaders of the protest movement, governors and the mayors of major cities.

But it remained unclear who could represent the massive and decentralised groups of demonstrators taking to the streets, venting anger over a range of grievances, including woeful public services despite a high tax burden.

NATIONAL PLAN CREATION

Rousseff said that her government would create a national plan for public transportation in cities.

Officials in many cities have already backed down from the hike in bus and subway fares that set off the protests.

She also reiterated her backing for a plan before congress to invest all oil revenue royalties in education and a promise she made earlier to bring in foreign doctors to areas that lack physicians.

"I want institutions that are more transparent, more resistant to wrongdoing," Rousseff said in reference to complaints of deep corruption in Brazilian politics, which is emerging as a focal point of the protests. "It's citizenship and not economic power that must be heard first."

The leader is a Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil's 1964-1985 military regime and was imprisoned for three years and tortured by the junta, and she pointedly referred to earlier sacrifices made to free the nation from dictatorship.

"My generation fought a lot so that the voice of the streets could be heard," Rousseff said.

"Many were persecuted, tortured and many died for this. The voice of the street must be heard and respected and it can't be confused with the noise and truculence of some troublemakers."