Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff called an emergency cabinet meeting Friday after at least a million people rallied for better public services and against the high cost of staging the World Cup.
Sources quoted by the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo said authorities were "frightened" by protesters' attempt to break into the foreign ministry building in Brasilia. The presidential office would not comment on the reports.
The mounting pressure on Rousseff's government in the face of the biggest street protests the South American country has seen in 20 years prompted her to also cancel a trip to Japan planned for next week.
Late Thursday, security forces struggled to maintain order in several cities, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse groups of rowdy protesters who hurled stones and lit fires.
Police fired tear gas in Rio de Janeiro, scene of the biggest protest where 300,000 people demonstrated near City Hall, while in the capital Brasilia, security forces blocked protesters trying to break into the foreign ministry and throwing burning objects.
Police and experts quoted by Brazilian media said at least one million marched in more than 100 cities across the country of 194 million people, an intensification of a movement sparked two weeks ago by public anger about a hike in public transport fares.
The protests have spiraled into a wider call for an end to government corruption in the world's seventh largest economy, a call fueled by resentment over the $15 billion cost of hosting the Confederations Cup and the World Cup.
Sources quoted by the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo said authorities were "frightened" by protesters' attempt to break into the foreign ministry building in Brasilia. The presidential office would not comment on the reports.
The mounting pressure on Rousseff's government in the face of the biggest street protests the South American country has seen in 20 years prompted her to also cancel a trip to Japan planned for next week.
Late Thursday, security forces struggled to maintain order in several cities, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse groups of rowdy protesters who hurled stones and lit fires.
Police fired tear gas in Rio de Janeiro, scene of the biggest protest where 300,000 people demonstrated near City Hall, while in the capital Brasilia, security forces blocked protesters trying to break into the foreign ministry and throwing burning objects.
Police and experts quoted by Brazilian media said at least one million marched in more than 100 cities across the country of 194 million people, an intensification of a movement sparked two weeks ago by public anger about a hike in public transport fares.
The protests have spiraled into a wider call for an end to government corruption in the world's seventh largest economy, a call fueled by resentment over the $15 billion cost of hosting the Confederations Cup and the World Cup.
