Responding to Protests, Brazil’s Leader Proposes Changes to System

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil proposed a series of bold changes to the country’s political system on Monday, including convening a constituent assembly apparently aimed at overhauling Congress and campaign-finance methods, in an effort to assuage the concerns of protesters who have stunned the nation this month with their anti-establishment demonstrations.
In detailing her plans, Ms. Rousseff seemed to be aiming for a relatively accommodating response to the protests, in contrast to how leaders elsewhere have reacted to major street mobilizations. Among them, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has adopted a far more bellicose stance against residents who are furious about his plans to raze a park in the middle of Istanbul.
The protests in Brazil, the most wide-reaching in two decades, have vented anger at the political class in general. The demonstrations continued on a smaller scale on Monday; two women who were taking part in a protest blocking a highway near the capital, Brasília, were killed when they were hit by a car, raising to four the number of people who have died amid the protests this month.