Nearly a million march to oust Brazil's president
Demonstrators protest against the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, on March 15, 2015.
Nearly one million Brazilians peacefully marched in more than 70 cities and towns around the country Sunday, criticizing government corruption and demanding President Rousseff's impeachment.
Porto Alegre
Demonstrators rally to protest against the government of President Dilma Rousseff in Porto Alegre, Brazil on 15 March, 2015.
President Rousseff has come under mounting pressure from a faltering economy and a huge corruption scandal.
Rio de Janeiro
Demonstrators hold a banner reading "Enough" as they rally to protest against the government of President Dilma Rousseff in Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 15, 2015.
A massive corruption scandal at Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras has rocked the government, and Dilma's approval ratings are now around 23 percent. Brazil's inflation rate has hovered around ten-year highs recently while the currency, the Brazilian real, has passed twelve-year lows when measured against the U.S. dollar.
Rio de Janeiro
Anti-government protesters carry a large Brazilian flag while marching along Copacabana beach on March 15, 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Demonstrators came out in 74 cities and towns nationwide.
Rio de Janeiro
Along the golden sands of Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, protesters waved Brazilian flags, with many openly calling for a military coup. "We want the military to dissolve Congress and call new elections, because the level of corruption is too widespread to do anything else," Marlon Aymes, 35, told The Associated Press.
"I don't want my country to turn into a Venezuela, we don't want an authoritarian government!" said Aymes, who was helping carry a 20-foot long banner that read in English: "Army, Navy and Air Force. Please Save Us Once Again of Communism."
Rio de Janeiro
Demonstrators hold a sign reading "Dilma out" as they rally to protest against the government of President Dilma Rousseff, along Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 15, 2015.
Protester Sheila Alcantara said she was angry she had to recently close a restaurant she owned because of rapidly rising prices for electricity and food.
"Never in my life have I heard of so much corruption, of so much money lost," she said. "A military intervention is the only way to clean the government, the executive branch cabinet, the Congress. They're all bribed off."
Sao Paulo
In the country's economic capital of Sao Paulo, 580,000 people gathered downtown, police reported on Twitter.
Sao Paulo
A protester with a mask of President Dilma, dressed as a convict, waves dollars to the crowd, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Much of the protesters' ire was focused on a kickback scheme at the state-run oil company Petrobras, which prosecutors call the biggest corruption scheme ever uncovered in Brazil. At least $800 million was paid in bribes and other funds by the nation's biggest construction and engineering firms in exchange for inflated Petrobras contracts.
Top executives are already in jail, and the attorney general is investigating dozens of top congressmen, along with current and former members of the executive branch, for alleged connections to the scheme that apparently began in 1997 before Rousseff's party took power in 2003.
Sao Paulo
Anti-government protesters march along Avenida Paulista on March 15, 2015 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Rousseff, a former chairwoman of Petrobras' board, has not been implicated, and so far is not being investigated, though top officials from her administration (including two former chiefs of staff) are caught up in the inquiry.
Sao Paulo
Today's protests are significantly different from anti-government demonstrations in 2013, which were a widespread expression of frustration with poor public services like health care and transportation, and whose participants cut across political, social and economic lines.
Sunday's protests, largely organized by ad-hoc right-leaning groups over social media, appeared far more politically focused.
Sao Paulo
Anti-government protesters march along Avenida Paulista on March 15, 2015 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Sao Paulo
Demonstrators rally to protest against the government of President Dilma Rousseff in Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil on March 15, 2015.
Sao Paulo
Demonstrators rally to protest against the government of President Dilma Rousseff in Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil on March 15, 2015.
Brasilia
Demonstrators protest against the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, on March 15, 2015.
Brasilia
Demostrators protest against the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, on March 15, 2015.
Brasilia
Demonstrators protest against the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, on March 15, 2015.
Brasilia
Demonstrators protest against the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, on March 15, 2015.
Manaus
Demonstrators protest against the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Manaus, Brazil, on March 15, 2015.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.