1 About a million people took to the streets of 100 Brazilian cities as their protests against corruption and social and economic injustice saw their first two deaths.
2 Violence broke out in more than 10 cities late Thursday and early Friday, and an 18-year-old man was killed and three people injured when they were hit by a car trying to drive around a protester-erected barricade in Ribeirao Preto, 185 miles north of Sao Paolo.
3 On Friday, a second person died of a heart attack as a tear-gas canister exploded near her, according to Brazilian news agencies.
4 In response to the protests, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff postponed a trip she had planned to Japan and called an emergency meeting Friday morning in Brasilia.
5 In an address transmitted on Brazilian television and radio Friday night, Rousseff asked for understanding about 'the political and economic limitations' the country is facing and beseeched Brazilians not 'to put at risk all that we've achieved.
6 We have much to lose'. But she pledged to create 'a grand pact' to improve public services and said among her priorities would be to devote 100 percent of petroleum revenue to education, send thousands of doctors to rural areas, come up with a national urban transit plan, and meet with peaceful protest leaders.
7 Hundreds of people were injured as the initially peaceful protests were interrupted by clashes as some protesters threw stones and police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them in a number of cities.
8 The demonstrations are the largest Brazil has seen in two decades.
9 Ingrid Munique, 18, joined the demonstrations in Rio de Janeiro with dozens of her neighbors from the Complexo Alemao favela, who chanted, 'I'll give up the World Cup.
10 I want money for health and education'.
11 The protests began more than a week ago against a hike in public transport fares but have broadened, taking on corruption and the costs of hosting the Confederations Cup, which is currently being played; the 2014 World Cup; and 2016 Olympics.
12 'The Brazilian people are not against the World Cup, but they are against the exorbitant expenditures on stadiums,' said Edgar Reinoso, 61, as he coughed on tear gas during the Thursday night protest in Rio.
13 'For Brazilians to come to the streets this way, it means a lot is wrong - mainly, corruption'.
14 Riding a commodities boom in recent years, the Brazilian economy became a high-growth darling.
15 Since 2003, some 40 million Brazilians have moved into the middle class.
16 The rich have demonstrated their acquisitive power by snapping up luxury condos in Miami, and even the middle class had begun to enjoy shopping trips to Florida.
17 'Those 40 million who have entered the middle class have seen the promised land and they have liked it very much,' said Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. 'The agenda of the protestors is a middle-class agenda'..While Brazil's economic progress has been real, Brazilians are increasingly struck by the persistence of the problems of underdevelopment, Sotero said from Sao Paulo, where he is visiting.
18 'All this boasting about Brazil and its being the world's sixth-largest economy and people say, ‘OK, why am I wasting four hours of my life commuting on these terrible buses?
19 And then they want to raise the fare.' ' Although Brazil has been lauded for its Bolsa Familia program, which offers cash payments to families who keep their children in school, the schools the children attend are often sub-par.
20 In the World Economic Forum's most recent Global Competitiveness Index, Brazil ranked 108 out of 144 countries for quality of education.
21 'Now society is saying we have been paying attention.
22 We're not just these happy soccer lovers,' said Sotero.
23 'I think the politicians are absolutely perplexed by this and what their response should be'.
24 The largest demonstration of Thursday night was in Rio de Janeiro, where 300,000 people turned out.
25 Most of them demonstrated peacefully as they marched in the centre of the city towards the mayor's office.
26 The situation escalated, however, as the police fired tear gas grenades.
27 Clashes broke out, and rioters set fire to cars and plastic awnings and ripped up fences.
28 Police on horseback and in armored vehicles were deployed to fight back the protesters.
29 'The police completely lost control and are incapable of dealing with such demonstrations,' said a television station employee who was hit in the head by a rubber bullet.
30 Clashes occurred in at least 10 other cities, including the capital, Brasilia, where 30,000 people marched through the government quarter.
31 Police there also fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
32 Thousands moved towards the Foreign Ministry and built a large fire outside it.
33 More than 100,000 people took to the streets in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, where the protests were largely peaceful.
34 In Ribeirao Preto, the driver of the Land Rover that hit the four people drove away from the scene without stopping, media reports said.
35 One of the injured was in a serious condition, they said. The protesters argued that the money for the sporting events should have instead been invested in education, health care and other social programs.
36 The crowds grew despite a rollback of the transport fare hike being announced Wednesday.
37 'Corruption is the central issue, and we are dealing here with a national movement,' historian Francisco Carlos Teixeira said.
38 Heavy clashes occurred at an intersection in Campinas near Sao Paulo between police and protesters.
39 In Salvador in Bahia state, where Confederations Cup matches were played Thursday, rioters set a bus on fire and damaged two mini-buses belonging to football's world governing body, FIFA.

In response to the protests , Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff postponed a trip she had planned to Japan and called an emergency meeting Friday morning in Brasilia .
Japan
what was she going to do in japan?