Brazil's austerity package decried by UN as attack on poor people

Senior official says proposed budget cuts, which have been protested in violent street clashes, are 'lacking in all nuance and compassion'

Brazil is poised to implement the most socially regressive austerity package in the world, a senior United Nations official has warned.

Despite violent street protests against budget cuts, President Michel Temer - who came to power after engineering the impeachment of his former running mate, Dilma Rousseff - is pushing through a 20-year social spending freeze that will be locked into the constitution.

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