Unions in Brazil on September 22 held a national general strike to protest what they called a coup against democratically elected president Dilma Rousseff. The unions were also protesting austerity measures proposed by Rousseff”s successor Michel Temer.

Among those participating in the general strike were 60,000 bank employees who have been on strike since September 7.

Rousseff was impeached for allegedly misrepresenting budget items, a charged that has subsequently been refuted by an independent auditor commissioned by Brazil’s Senate.

When Temer spoke to a meeting of corporate representatives in New York, he said that Rousseff was removed from office because she opposed austerity measures that Brazil’s business class was demanding.

During the general strike participants carried banners that read “Fora Temer (Down with Temer). In the city of Belo Horizonte members of the teachers union marched behind banner that read, “Professoras Contra o Golpe” (Teachers Against the Coup).

When Temer…