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Protesters take field to disrupt FIFA visit to World Cup stadium in Brazil

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ANI London
Last Updated : Oct 09 2013 | 10:15 AM IST

A group of around 50 protesters disrupted an official visit to a football stadium being built for next year's soccer World Cup in Brazil, and shouted slogans criticizing the huge amounts spent in preparations for the event, along with holding banners.

According to the BBC, the protestors stormed the Arena Pantanal, in the western city of Cuiaba, as the Secretary General of FIFA, Jerome Valcke, was inspecting it.

The incident raises new concerns about security during the event, the report said.

Some of the banners carried by the protesters, most of them striking teachers and postal workers, read go home and World Cup for whom, the report added.

They have called for more public spending on health and education, the report further said.

The stadium will have capacity for 44,000 people and is expected to cost about 140 million pounds, according to the report.

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Valcke said that the protesters had to take the long-term benefits into account, and although they had freedom and that was part of democracy, the workers who were there trying to finish the stadium must not be targeted.

He said he had a meeting with Governor Silval Barbosa to find out if the works were going to meet the deadline set by the FIFA, the world's football governing body.

Officials say the Arena Pantanal is 85 percent ready, though none of the seats in the stadium have been installed and FIFA has demanded that all venues are ready by 20 December, the report mentioned.

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First Published: Oct 09 2013 | 10:13 AM IST

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