03/05/2014 – 15h47

With Rio de Janeiro’s street cleaners on strike during carnival, revellers were forced to navigate their way through piles of rubbish scattered across the streets of the city as they tried to enjoy the last day of the event.

Yesterday, the streets were even dirtier, as the striking workers refused to accept an agreement negotiated between the city government and the street cleaners’ union late on Monday afternoon. In response, the president of Comlurb (Rio’s urban cleaning company), Vinícius Roriz, announced the dismissal of 300 workers who should have gone back to work on Monday night.

Yesterday afternoon, the street cleaners closed Avenida Vieira Souto, in Ipanema, in protest. In front of each hotel along the seafront, the group stopped to shout slogans criticising the directors of Comlurb and Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes.