--- description: Antigovernment riots broke out in Sao Paulo on Thursday night, turning violent while a World Cup match ended on the other side of town title: World Cup: Antigovernment Protests Turn Violent in Sao Paulo image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b85d1d5c96957b/698698861eebf71aa837189b/sao-paolo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [brazil](/tag/brazil/) ## brazil Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Amid the World Cup, a Violent Reminder of Brazil's Discontent by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 20, 2014 6:34 AM CUT  A protester jumps over a fire barricade during a protest against 2014 FIFA World Cup in Sao Paulo, on June 19, 2014. A protester jumps over a fire barricade during a protest against 2014 FIFA World Cup in Sao Paulo, on June 19, 2014.Rahel Patrasso—Xinhua/Sipa USA by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 20, 2014 6:34 AM CUT Antigovernment riots, ostensibly calling for free public transit in Brazil, broke out in São Paulo on Thursday night, turning increasingly violent while the World Cup match between England and Uruguay ended on the other side of town. More than a thousand people had gathered initially to commemorate the one-year anniversary of a successful protest against a transit-fare hike, [Reuters reports](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/19/us-brazil-worldcup-protests-idUSKBN0EU2VN20140619 "undefined"). However, such transport protests are typically a flash point for deep-seated frustrations over poverty and government spending. Though things were at first peaceful — as most of the recent demonstrations across Brazil over the course of the World Cup have been — the protest quickly escalated when groups of masked men began to set fires in the street and shatter bank windows. It was one of the largest Brazilian protests during the World Cup soccer tournament thus far, and the first to become overtly violent, although a police spokesperson reported no injuries to either protesters or foreign soccer fans. Most of the demonstrations in the past few weeks have sought to confront a government that protesters say pays insufficient attention to both public resources and its employees. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2903689/sao-paulo-brazil-protests-world-cup/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2903689/sao-paulo-brazil-protests-world-cup/"},"headline":"Amid the World Cup, a Violent Reminder of Brazil's Discontent","datePublished":"2014-06-20T06:34:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:32:02.102Z","description":"One of the largest demonstrations over the course of the World Cup so far turned violent in São Paulo","url":"https://time.com/2903689/sao-paulo-brazil-protests-world-cup/","keywords":["brazil","protests","World Cup"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b85d1d5c96957b/698698861eebf71aa837189b/sao-paolo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b85d1d5c96957b/698698861eebf71aa837189b/sao-paolo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A protester jumps over a fire barricade during a protest against 2014 FIFA World Cup in Sao Paulo, on June 19, 2014.","caption":"A protester jumps over a fire barricade during a protest against 2014 FIFA World Cup in Sao Paulo, on June 19, 2014.","creditText":"Rahel Patrasso—Xinhua/Sipa USA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/brazil/","name":"brazil"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2903689/sao-paulo-brazil-protests-world-cup/","name":"Amid the World Cup, a Violent Reminder of Brazil's Discontent"}}]}] ```