A Brazilian Spring? No, not really.

Crowds of protesters, police violence and expressions of discontent unseen for many decades—this is a good portrayal of what took place in the largest cities of Brazil during the first weeks of June 2013. The immediate reason for the wave of protests was the rise in bus fares, trains and subways in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Similar increase had already happened in other cities such as Porto Alegre and Goiânia, which prompted protests since last February, but the demonstrations in Sao Paulo and Rio caused larger and more numerous protests to spread across the country.