Police fire stun grenades and tear gas to prevent around 200 protesters from getting near the famed Maracana stadium.Chanting “Hey Fifa, return to Switzerland”, the demonstrators tried to break through a police barricade guarding the route to the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the World Cup match between Argentina and Bosnia.
But a large group of riot police managed to hold the crowd back.
Tensions rose when a man driving by fired a gun in the air and shouted at the protesters to leave, according to reports.
Another protest took place in the southern city of Porto Alegre where police kept demonstrators far from the stadium where France played Honduras. No incidents were reported.
In the capital Brasilia, 300 people protested near the stadium used for the Switzerland-Ecuador game.
Mass protests broke out across Brazil during last year’s Confederations Cup football tournament.
At that time, more than 1 million people took to the streets in a single day in the largest demonstrations this South American nation had seen in a generation.
Still, while anger about the $11bn spent on the World Cup remains widespread, protests that have been staged since the tournament began last week have failed to draw strong public support, generally attracting only a few hundred protesters.
A heavy presence by security forces outside Brazil’s 12 World Cup venues has also helped keep demonstrations under control.
