South America
Anti-Lula forces rally over Brazil scandal
By Andrew Hay
Aug 18, 2005, 11:00

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Thousands of left-wing militants demanded Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva step down over a deepening corruption scandal on Wednesday, but the president said he had a clean conscience.

Demonstrators with banners saying "Lula Out!" marched through the capital in the first mass protest against the president since allegations surfaced in June that his aides and ruling party bribed lawmakers to support legislation.

The protest -- estimated by police to have 12,000 marchers -- was double the size of a pro-Lula rally on Tuesday.

"We need a push by the people to bring Lula down," said Luiz Carlos Prates, the president of a metalworkers union based in Sao Jose dos Campos in Sao Paulo state.

Taking part in the rally were four left-wing parties that were working against Lula before the scandal broke. Three protesters were arrested after taunting riot police.

During a visit to the state of Bahia, Lula said, "I am a calm man. I'm calm because I have a clean conscience."

Allegations the Workers' Party used public funds to buy the support of lawmakers and finance campaigns have sparked Brazil's worst political crisis since President Fernando Collor faced impeachment and resigned in 1992.

Though Lula has not been implicated in wrongdoing, four ruling party leaders and Lula's former Cabinet chief, Jose Dirceu, resigned on accusations they orchestrated the scheme.

Centrist parties have eased up on calls for Lula's impeachment and government supporters who had been silent have begun to vocally support the president.

The Workers' Party on Wednesday apologised for using undeclared, illegal campaign financing after Lula last week apologised to the country for the crisis and blamed it on rogue aides.

But opposition parties asked public prosecutors to open up Lula's 2002 campaign accounts to see if he received illegal funds from his Workers' Party. Such evidence could be grounds for impeachment, analysts say.

ROTTEN PALACE

Left-wing parties accuse Lula of betraying 2002 election promises to reduce poverty and clean up politics. Before the scandal, they protested against his alliances with centrist and right-wing parties to limit public spending and pass reforms favoured by investors.

"Get rid of all the corrupt ones," shouted Sen. Heloisa Helena of the left-wing Liberty and Socialism Party. "The presidential palace is rotten, it's not investigating party gangs in its legislative coalition."

Helena, the highest-profile politician at the march, said Lula's impeachment could not be considered until congressional probes finished an inquiry into the bribery scandal. Lawmakers are expected to wrap up their probe early next year. Helena is a member of one panel investigating the corruption allegations.

Support for Lula, Brazil's first working-class president, is slipping, and a poll last week showed for the first time he could lose in a second-round vote in the 2006 race.



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