Brazilians protest against austerity in main cities

Protests broke out across Brazil on Wednesday -- including an invasion by demonstrators of the finance ministry -- against plans to scale back the cash-strapped country's pension system.

Hundreds of activists from leftist groups led by the Movement for the Landless burst into the ministry building in Brasilia before the start of the workday. Police reported that protesters had broken windows.

"We're going to stay as long as possible," the group's director, Marcos Baratto, told G1 news website. "We have come to leave a message for the government that we will not accept loss of our rights."

And about 10,000 demonstrators were gathered on the esplanade outside the government complex in the center of Brasilia, police said.

In Sao Paulo, the financial powerhouse of Latin America's biggest economy, city buses were canceled and the metro system only provided partial service, G1 reported.

Although transport services gradually improved during the day, the mega-city's streets saw the biggest traffic jams of the year, Brazilian media reported.

Staff at public schools in Rio de Janeiro went on strike, trash collectors stopped work in Curitiba and the metro was shut down in Belo Horizonte, according to G1.

The unrest marked the most serious challenge in the streets so far to attempts by center-right President Michel Temer to tame the budget and restore an economy mired in two straight years of recession.

- Question of rights -

Central to the pension reform is setting the retirement age at 65 -- a shock to a country where many are able to draw pensions at 54.

The hugely unpopular Temer said Wednesday that reform is needed to prevent the pension system's "collapse."

"No one will have their rights taken away," he said in an address, describing reforms as "saving the benefits of today's retirees and of the young who will retire tomorrow."

Arguing that the country will be driven to bankruptcy if austerity measures are not taken, Temer has already steered a 20-year budget freeze through Congress.

However, leftist opposition organizations say Temer is punishing ordinary Brazilians already suffering the worst recession in the country's history, with unemployment at a record 12.6 percent -- around 13 million jobless.

Popular actor Wagner Moura, who plays drug lord Pablo Escobar in the Netflix series "Narcos," added his voice, saying "this reform represents yet another enormous blow to the rights of Brazilian workers."

- Corruption probes -

Temer took over last year after his leftist predecessor Dilma Rousseff was impeached for illegally manipulating government accounts with unauthorized loans.

He has made a return to economic health his main goal and says that he does not care if austerity measures increase his already rock-bottom popularity.

However, Temer's credibility among Brazilians is being hurt further by a ballooning graft scandal over embezzlement from state oil company Petrobras.

On Tuesday, the scandal entered new territory with requests by the prosecutor general to the Supreme Court for authority to investigate scores of politicians.

Reportedly they include five ministers, as well as the presidents of both houses of Congress. Temer has said he will not fire ministers unless they are actually charged with crimes.

However, earlier phases in the scandal have already claimed several other ministers, raising questions over Temer's ability to keep a congressional coalition together for the all-important vote on pension reform.