Yahoo Finance Brazil Protests: £16bn To Improve Transport
Brazil's President has offered a referendum on political reform and promised to pump £16.2bn ($25bn) into public transport, as she tries to end weeks of protests in the country.
Plans to ask Brazilians whether they want a "constituent assembly" were announced after talks with state governors and city mayors.
At an earlier meeting with protest leaders and regional officials, Dilma Rousseff confirmed a major investment in the country's mass transit system.
Together with the huge cost of staging next year's football World Cup and alleged political corruption, public transport is seen as the trigger for a wave of nationwide protests that have seen up to 1.5 million people take to the streets.
Protesters with the group Free Pass Movement have successfully forced authorities in several cities, including Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, to cancel planned fare hikes.
They now want Ms Rousseff to consider free transport for all.
"Transport should be treated as a social right," the group said in a statement posted on their website. "It can only be public if it is accessible to all."
Elsewhere, two women who took part in a demonstration in the central town of Cristalina died after they were run over by a car whose driver crashed through a blockade.
It brings the death toll from the fortnight of protests to four.
Meanwhile, in Belo Horizonte, 70,000 people marched towards the stadium where Mexico played Japan (EUREX: FMJP.EX - news) in the Confederations Cup - seen as a dry run for the World Cup - over the weekend.
The protest was marred by looting and clashes with police that left more than 30 people hurt.
At a match in Salvador, supporters held up placards which read: "Let's go to the streets to change Brazil."
More From Sky News
