Police assault pro-Rousseff protesters

Clashes have erupted between Brazilian police and the protesters who took to the streets in Sao Paulo against the impeachment trial of suspended president Dilma Rousseff.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse several thousands of demonstrators on the main Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo late Monday.

Protesters, in turn, burned objects and used barriers to block the streets.

The Central Workers’ Union said at least 20,000 people had taken part in the protest, but the military police put the number at some 800 people.

Elsewhere, at least 2,000 demonstrators were out on the streets of the capital, Brasilia, and marched on the Senate headquarters, where the impeachment trial was underway.

They chanted slogans in support of Rousseff and called for Interim President Michel Temer to step down.

“Temer out! Dilma come back,” the protesters yelled.

Temer took over when the Senate voted in May to impeach and suspend Rousseff for breaking fiscal rules in her management of the 2014 federal budget. Rousseff denies wrongdoing.

During the 12-hour trial session on Monday, Rousseff denied the allegations and called the impeachment a coup d’état.

The embattled leader denounced Temer as a “usurper,” adding, “I know I will be judged, but my conscience is clear. I did not commit a crime.”