巴西民衆抗議總統任命

Protests broke out in several Brazilian cities Wednesday as demonstrators condemned the move by embattled President Dilma Rousseff to appoint former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as her chief of staff.

Some 2,000 demonstrators Wednesday gathered in the streets of Brazilia and Sao Paulo after Rousseff named Lula, who left office with very high popularity ratings, saying it would strengthen her government.

Demonstrators say Lula was appointed in order to protect him from prosecution in a money laundering scandal involving the state-owned Petrobras oil company.

As a member of Rousseff's cabinet, Lula can only be tried before the Brazilian Supreme Court.

Lula denies involvement in the Petrobras scandal.

But adding to Wednesday's unrest was the release of audio recordings by a judge heading the Petrobras investigation. The judge said the recordings of Lula's phone conversations indicate Lula was seeking help in avoiding prosecution.巴西幾大城市星期三舉行抗議活動，示威者們對四面楚歌的羅塞夫總統任命前總統盧拉爲幕僚長表示譴責。

羅塞夫宣佈對盧拉的任命後，大約2000名示威者星期三在巴西利亞和聖保羅舉行集會。盧拉離任時聲望很高。羅塞夫表示，任命盧拉能加強巴西政府的執政能力。

示威者說，羅塞夫任命盧拉擔任幕僚長，是爲了讓他免於因一樁涉及國有石油公司的洗錢醜聞而受到起訴。

作爲羅塞夫政府的內閣成員，盧拉只能在巴西最高法院受審。

盧拉否認與巴西石油公司醜聞有牽連。

與此同時，負責調查巴西石油公司醜聞的一位法官公佈了一段錄音。這位法官說，盧拉的電話錄音顯示，他曾爲免於受到起訴而尋求幫助。