Updated 08:02 AM EDT, Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Protests, Violence, and Evictions: This is the World Cup Brazil Doesn't Want You to See

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Protests. Violence. Displaced families. While the world cheers on the World Cup, the residents of Brazil are yelling for a different reason.

While stories about the World Cup paint the picture of a lovely affair -- which it is, at least to a point -- what has been forgotten in the translation are the real stories of the World Cup games. The stories of locals, often unpleasant, are being swept under the rug, as the tales of domestic strain and unrest in lieu of happier ones.

Take the mass protests in Brazil, for example. They are occurring as the World Cup games take place, but little is heard of them in the news. The protests are spurred on by last week's one-year anniversary of the "10-cent transit fee hike," a Brazilian fee imposed on citizens that erupted into mass protests, with more than a million civilians voicing their displeasure with the policy.

And just in time for the World Cup games, members of the Free Fare Movement (MPI) gathered in the streets of Sao Paulo to demonstrate once again to commemorate the protest.

The commemorative protest, which began as a peaceful demonstration as hundreds gathered to march in the financial district of Sao Paulo, quickly became much more destructive. Over a million dollars worth of damage was caused by unruly protestors, who broke into two luxury car showrooms, smashing and denting a number of vehicles. Four banks were vandalized by protesters, who threw rocks and other debris through the windows.

The protest had a number of different groups participating, some who were more actively destructive than others. The MPI is a peaceful group and they dispersed before the vandalism occurred. The Black Blocs were largely responsible for the extra curricular carnage that included the burning of cardboard, car tiers and other barrier debris.

MPI coordinator Helcio Beuclair told Mashable reporters, "This violence and damage is really out of proportion with what we're trying to achieve here - which is demanding [free transport]. But what we've seen isn't even true Black Bloc tactics, which is meant to protect protesters from police aggression. This is just vandalism."     

Among other untold stories about the World Cup are the 22,000 families that were pushed out of their Favela homes, allegedly because of their gorgeous "sea view." FIFA and Brazilian officials deny that the World Cup had anything to do with the evictions of the families. Officials say that the homes were not built to withstand flooding and were deemed unsafe, with the timing of the evictions being purely coincidental. 

One displaced resident, Eomar Frietas, told reporters, "I'll be rooting against Brazil. If they're eliminated I'll be happy. All the money they have spent on Maracanã and other stadiums could have gone to other things."

Stadiums such as Maracana in Rio de Janiero have experienced large groups of fans breaking down unmanned gates and storming into the stadium. 85 Chilean fans were apprehended after the group of storming fans ran into the press section.

Some fans took a different passageway and were able to make it to the bleachers. In a similar incident, around 100 Argentinian fans stormed a gate at the stadium and were able to gain access to the match.

Brazilian officials, on the other hand, claim that their security measures are top-notch, and that these situations are anomalies.

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