Millions protesting in Brazil are same overwhelmingly white, older, middle class people who've complained for years-AP, 3/15/16

"Sunday's demonstrations, overwhelmingly comprised of the white, older middle-class people who have railed against Rousseff for years."...Biggest scandal involves "executives at state-run oil company Petrobras who issued inflated contracts to private businesses in exchange for bribes and kickbacks, some of which were laundered and used in political campaigns."

3/13/16, Sao Paulo, Brazil, AP

3/15/16, "Millions protest in Brazil against leader and corruption," AP, Alexandra Douglas, via quadrangleonline.com

"Mammoth demonstrations across Brazil are putting even more pressure on embattled President Dilma Rousseff as she heads into a tough week for her attempt to survive impeachment proceedings in Congress. She's fighting impeachment proceedings in Congress amid the worst recession in decades and a sprawling corruption investigation closing in on key figures in her Workers' Party.

The Ibovespa stock benchmark declined from a seven-month high and the real dropped for the first time in five days after Folha de S.Paulo reported that President Dilma Rousseff is only waiting for Lula to accept the job before making the announcement.

The demonstrations were the latest in a wave of anti-government rallies that lost momentum late past year but could gain strength as a sweeping corruption investigation nears Ms Rousseff's inner circle.

The biggest anti-government protest a year ago, in March, included an estimated 1.7 million people across Brazil, with a million in São Paulo alone.

The former president (Lula) himself faces charges in the corruption scandal but his presence in the government could lend order to an increasingly chaotic administration.

Sunday's demonstrations, overwhelmingly comprised of the white, older middle-class people who have railed against Rousseff for years, may have weakened the government but they don't seem to have strengthened the opposition.

Record protests against President Dilma Rousseff have all but guaranteed her impeachment by pushing hesitant lawmakers from Brazil's biggest party to favour her ouster, party sources said on Monday.

Rousseff needs Lula to maintain her links to the party base, where she is unpopular.

"If politicians don't hear our voices, they will be in trouble", Oscar Cezar Magalhães, a protester in the northeastern state of Bahia, told The Wall Street Journal. Supporters of Rousseff, Lula and the Worker's Party he founded abstained from the protests after the president and the army expressed fears of potentially violent clashes.

"She (Rousseff) has to go", said Patricio Gonzaga, an unemployed metal worker who took part in the Sao Paulo gathering. The largest scandal-deemed operation "Car Wash"- involved executives at state-run oil company Petrobras who issued inflated contracts to private businesses in exchange for bribes and kickbacks, some of which were laundered and used in political campaigns.

ANALYSIS: Brazil's Right-Wing Seeks to Fatally Damage Lula? The president is accused of using accounting tricks of mask a growing deficit, allegations she has denied."

Image caption: "Demonstrators fill Paulista Avenue as they march to demand the impeachment of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, March 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)" 
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