Brasília, March 3, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The demonstration organized today by the Union Force on the Esplanade of the Ministries, in Brasília, to protest the closing of bingo parlors across the country, attracted 10-15 thousand people, according to an estimate by the Military Police of the Federal District. The crowd promises to remain on the Esplanade throughout the day.

The purpose of the protest is to move the government to reconsider the terms of the provisional measure that prohibited the bingo parlors from functioning. The coordinators of the demonstration argue that the closing of the bingo parlors generates mass unemployment.

The president of the Union Force, Paulo Pereira da Silva, said that today's march is part of a series of demonstrations that are being held in several capitals, beginning in Rio, yesterday (2). "Our intention is to put pressure on the government to revise the provisional measure and assure the jobs of the more than 100 thousand formal workers who were dismissed," he said. (DAS)