Brazilian mayors declare support for Rousseff over impeachment

Mayors of major Brazilian cities on Monday declared their rejection to the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.

The mayors of 14 state capitals, including Fernando Haddad from Sao Paulo and Eduardo Paes from Rio de Janeiro, claimed that the impeachment is a coup attempt.

The mayors' statement was presented directly to Rousseff on Monday evening.

Rousseff's political foe launched impeachment proceedings earlier this month based on accusation that the president violated budget laws during her re-election campaign last year.

However, the mayors claimed that no crime was committed and the process is, instead, a coup attempt.

"This impeachment process is full of frailty, as there is no crime of responsibility committed by the president. We understand this movement is illegitimate and puts the country in a very unstable situation," said Paes, the Rio mayor.

President Rousseff has been gathering the support of a good number of politicians in Brazil. Last week, 16 governors also signed a document repudiating the impeachment.

Protests against Rousseff were held in dozens of Brazilian cities on Sunday, but attendance was not nearly as high as in March, when about 1 million people took to the streets. Endi