Brazil's evicted 'won't celebrate World Cup' - Features - Al Jazeera English
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Every four years, Brazilians decorate their streets in green and yellow, celebrating the arrival of the most anticipated sports tournament in the country.
With the kick-off for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil less than one month away, the country's passion for football should be pulsating more than ever.
But there are some signs to the contrary. "World Cup for whom?" read the words painted on a wall on a street in Sao Paulo.
Many in Brazil's middle class are unhappy with the effects the World Cup has already had on their lives. The cost of living has risen in the cities hosting the games, traffic jams have worsened, and a construction boom aimed at improving urban mobility has only compounded problems, they say.
But it is the poorest Brazilians who have borne the brunt of the World Cup preparations. According to the Popular Committee for the World Cup and Olympics, a group opposed to how the games' preparations have been handled, 250,000 people across Brazil have been forcefully removed from their houses or are being threatened with eviction. Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre are the most affected cities, it says.
A Brazilian child stands in front of his
demolished house in the Metro-Mangueira favela, near Rio de
Janeiro's Maracanã stadium, which will host the World Cup final.
