Brazil's president attempts to deal with massive protests

(Vatican Radio) Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is holding a crisis meeting on Friday with her Cabinet to try to diffuse the biggest nationwide protets in more than twenty years. Rousseff has cancelled a trip to Japan to stay and tackle a home grown crisis which is spreading and becoming more serious by the hour.

Protest marches against corruption, bus hikes, the spiralling cost of next year's soccer World Cup and the Olympics two years later, are gathering momentum.

The unrest is overshadowing the Confederations soccer Cup, which is already underway in Brazil. And serious questions are now being asked about the forthcoming World Cup.

One demonstrator was killed in Sao Paulo when a car careered into a crowd, while in Rio dozens have been injured in clashes with riot police. In the capitol Brasilia, a bonfire was started outside the Foreign Ministry building. Since then public buildings have been cordoned off.

Earlier this week, President Rousseff said she admired protesters striving for a better Brazil. That admiration is evidently not mutual.

Listen to James Blears’ report: