Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Brazil's biggest cities, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and the capital Brasilia, on Monday evening to protest the rising cost of public transport, corruption and heavy-handed police tactics.
In the city of Belo Horizonte, police clashed with protesters and fired tear gas to disperse crowds, Brazil's Globo TV reported.
The governor of Brazil's richest and most industrialized state Sao Paulo called the protesters "troublemakers."
The demonstrations began last week after a 0.20 Brazilian real ($0.10) increase in bus fares.
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Arnaldo Jabor, a film director and journalist said last week the protests were not about the fare hike as most of those on the streets were from the middle class.
On Sunday, demonstrators angry over the cost of hosting the Confederations Cup soccer tournament and the spending of billions of dollars on next year's soccer World Cup clashed with police in Rio.
Brazil's former President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who ushered in economic reforms in the 1990s, and who is now in the opposition, said on Monday the government needed to understand what had sparked the protests.