Hundreds of people in Rio de Janeiro clashed with cops during a protest against a hike in public transportation fares.  It’s part of a sustained and smoldering resentment of the amount of public money being extracted from ordinary Brazilians to pay for the World Cup this year and the Olympics in 2016.

The protesters gathered at Rio’s Central Station during rush hour, and stormed past the turnstiles.  There was little the police could do, initially.  Some dressed as superheroes, others banging on drums, they demanded that the international soccer governing body FIFA pay their fares, throwing the commute into chaos. 

“We won't pay three reais,” they chanted.  “We want FIFA-standard hospitals too,” referencing the perfectionist demands of the World Cup organizers for the event's venues – standards that are non-existent in the crumbling infrastructure of the Favelas.

And then the reinforcements came, clad in black uniforms, black helmets, black body armor.  Cops beat protesters with their truncheons.  A TV videographer was severely injured when an explosive went off next to his head.  It’s unclear if it was thrown by protesters, or was a police stun grenade.

Although this year’s demonstrations are much smaller than last year, when millions of people hit the streets of Brazil’s cities, authorities are no less worried.  They’re attempting to plant undercover agents inside protesters, intercepting emails, and monitoring social media to head off protesters from the World Cup later this year. 

This sort of surveillance stirs up bad memories of the military dictatorship that ruled from 1964-1985, which spied extensively on its own people – including the current president Dilma Rousseff who was part of a Marxist guerilla group in her youth.