In Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, a main thoroughfare（主要通道） was blocked with burning tires. Protesters stormed a building in the capital Brasilia. School teachers fresh from a vote to extend a strike joined with other protesters in Rio de Janeiro, blocking traffic on several main streets before marching on city hall. Crowds dispersed¹ with little incident, but police sped the protest's end with tear gas and sporadic²（零星的） searches.

 

Looters took advantage of a three-day police strike in the northeastern city of Recife, a World Cup venue³. Supermarkets, shops and vehicles were ransacked⁴. The army and units of a special national gendarmerie（宪兵） have been called in to keep order. Police voted to end their strike on Thursday night.

 

Groups in Sao Paulo, including the Homeless Workers Movement, marched towards the World Cup stadium that will be the site of the tournament's June 12 kickoff. The stadium has become a target of protests because of the families displaced by its construction. One banner carried by demonstrators read: "The cup without the people, all to the streets again!"

 

In Brasilia the Homeless Workers Movement entered the headquarters of Terracap, the state company that manages the city's 1.4-billion-real ($630 million) stadium - the country's most expensive.

 

Protests are planned in up to 50 cities throughout the day, as demonstrators hope to rekindle⁵ momentum⁶ that led to millions of people hitting the streets last year during the Confederations Cup, a two-week World Cup warmup.

 

Last year's demonstrations⁷ prompted President Dilma Rousseff, who faces a bid for re-election in October, to address the nation and acknowledge deficiencies in public services and investment in everything from education and health care to transportation and security.

 

In a speech on Thursday, Rousseff attacked critics of her government's Cup preparations and called on the nation to welcome Cup visitors with "the hospitality that is part of the Brazilian soul". After a near-decade of steady growth before she took office, Brazil now struggles with a sluggish⁸（萧条的） economy, persistent⁹ inflation, increasing crime and lacklustre investment.

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