BRASILIA, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Riot police in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Thursday subdued a group of protesters demonstrating against the 2014 Brazil World Cup, just hours before the opening match between Brazil and Croatia at the city's Arena Corinthians.
Some 200 protesters had gathered to demonstrate under the banner "Without Rights, There Won't Be A World Cup," which had been organized via online social network Facebook. More than 10, 000 people had confirmed their participation in the protest.
Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to push back the crowd, and put up barricades around the Carrao subway station to prevent protesters from reaching Radial Este Avenue, which leads to the stadium, as had been planned.
Several people were injured in the melee, including a CNN producer. The police arrested a protester who was injured by rubber bullets.
Brazilians are angry at what they see as massive public spending on the prestige sporting event, while public services, such as transportation, healthcare and education, lack government investment.
In one bright spot for city officials, Sao Paulo subway workers, who had been striking since last week in demand of higher wages, decided to go back to work, allowing the system to operate normally.
The workers demonstrated instead in the streets to keep pressuring the company that runs the subway. They also agreed to refuse to work overtime or to wear special vests designed for the World Cup, bearing messages in various languages for foreign visitors using public transportation.
The subway workers also had another motivation to get back to work as the Regional Labor Tribunal had ruled the strike illegal, and levied a daily fine of 500,000 reals (about 230,000 dollars) for each day employees staying away from their jobs.
Apart from Sao Paulo, more protests are expected in 11 other cities co-hosting the 2014 World Cup games.
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